Into the Darkness
by OhNoItsHerpDerp
Summary: "Why can't things ever go right for me?" Because of the intervention of two deities in her life, Ren finds herself in the world of One Piece. Maybe this life will be better than her last one. There might be romance later on. Rated M for language.
1. Prologue

Darkness. Nothing. That's what I saw. I sighed, a little more than pissed. Normally, someone would be scared to be taken from their house in a split second and appear in the middle of Nothing. I guess I'm not normal. Plus, this has been happening to me for far too long for it to scare me anymore.

"What is it this time?" I muttered and started walking. I had no particular direction in mind, like usual. I just thought it was better to keep moving. Call me paranoid. Who know what lies in this darkness? I sure as hell don't.

As usual, nothing happened. I could never keep track of how long I was there. And, as usual, when I finally found my way out, only seconds has passed.

When this first started happening, I was really confused, and a bit scared, but now it's just annoying. On the bright side, it's starting to get easier to find my way out, but sometimes, I'm in a completely location than when I disappeared. This is one of those times.

' _You've got to be_ FUCKING _kidding!'_ Those were my only thoughts as I heard a cacophony of honks and shouts, and felt pain erupt in my side. Of all the fucking places I could be, it just _HAD_ to leave me in the middle of the fucking street in front of my apartment, _right_ as a truck is driving by. Aaaaaannnd back to darkness. This is different though. _This_ is much more terrifying.

"I'm dead, aren't I?"

I threw my hands in the air in exasperation. Of all the ways I could have died in my shitty life _this_ is what takes me out. Honestly, I probably should've been more scared. However, at that point, I don't think I fully realized what had happened.

Then there was laughter behind me, making me jump. I whirled around to see someone that definitely wasn't human. It wasn't that she was grotesque or horrifying or anything. She looked like a living photoshopped picture. She was practically glowing, and extremely beautiful. I'm slightly envious.

As if hearing my thoughts, she laughed again, her voice ringing like bells.

Now, I'm not an extremely religious person, but I _swear_ she looked like how I'd always imagined angels. Beautiful, ethereal.

"I'm not an angel." ' _Ah, so she can read my thoughts. Rude'_

"I'm just a minor deity." She continued, obviously amused by my thought process. Hey, it's not my fault. I can't filter my thoughts like I can my speech.

' _HOLY FUCK!'_ Oh, there's the sudden realization I've been waiting for. A bit slow on the uptake there, self. I looked down to see that my body wasn't broken and bruised like I thought it would be. My clothes just had a bit of blood. Weird.

Then I looked at the woman—deity—in front of me. "I got hit by a truck, right? So I'm dead?"

Her expression turned sad, with a bit of underlying anger. "Yes. And I'm sorry." Something about her tone and expression told me that she wasn't just sorry about being the bearer of bad news.

Either hearing my thoughts, or seeing something in my face, she sighed. "I…have a lot to explain. Walk with me."

As we started walking through this unfamiliar darkness, she spoke.

"I have watched over you for a long time. Since you started having your problem." At my nod she continued. "I have a brother. We're twins, but he is my exact opposite. Night and day, I guess. He's apathetic, mischievous, and he loves ruining peoples' lives. One day—I don't know why—he set his sights on you. And so, he caused your problem. The one that makes you disappear into that Darkness, that Nothing, against your will.

"Unfortunately, I could do nothing to stop it, but I made it my duty to watch over you, to see to your safety. I managed to keep it a secret for years but, eventually, he found out. As I expected, he was livid, and he took it out on you…And here we are."

She went quiet for a while after that, letting me digest this new information. _'Why should I believe any of this?'_ Wait, that's kind of a stupid question, considering where we are. So, instead of focusing on how unbelievable it sounds, I decided to focus on a question lurking in the back of my mind.

"So, he can just go around killing people when he gets angry?"

Looking a bit relieved that I finally spoke, she shook her head. "No. We may seem like all-powerful beings, but we have laws. My brother—it's his nature to be mischievous. That's why I couldn't do anything about his tricks. However, when he caused your death, he broke one of our highest laws, which is why I am here, explaining all of this to you. When our Higher Authority found out, my brother went into hiding. And I was given permission to offer you another chance."

…Wait, what? "Another chance? What does that mean?"

She smiled. "Exactly what it sounds like. You were supposed to do a lot of good in your world. We can't just let someone like you go. So, we're giving you another chance at life. To do your good somewhere else.

"Unfortunately, I can't bring you back to your home—for obvious reasons—but I have a place that I think will suit you just fine. You have quite a bit of knowledge about this world. I believe you know it as an…anime? The…show was called One Piece in your world."

' _No fucking way. This has got to be some weird coma dream. World hopping?! What the_ fuck _has happened to my life?!'_ At this point, I had stopped walking. My thoughts were racing, but the recurring thought was _'You've got to be_ FUCKING _joking.'_ The runner up was _'Me? Doing good? Obviously you've got the wrong girl.'_

"Obviously, you lack self-confidence. And no, this isn't a 'weird coma dream' and I'm not joking. Of course, before I take you to your new life, there are a few things we need to do to prepare."

…Prepare? Why do I not like the way she said that?

She just smirked.


	2. Chapter 1: Preparing and a New Home

I didn't bother trying to keep track of time. I was too preoccupied to even think about it, to be honest. That deity—Ava, I learned was her name—made sure I was "prepared" to enter a world full of pirates and never ending fighting.

In the meantime, we left that darkness that accompanies dying to go to somewhere more suitable for her plans. There was even a bed for me to pass out on from the inevitable exhaustion. Other than that and other necessities that come with being human, I was busy from the moment I woke to the moment I passed out.

The process of preparing was just as shitty as I originally thought it would be. Turns out "preparing" was just Ava's glorified way of saying she was going to train my ass off. Which sucked. My ass was one of the few things I liked about myself.

Granted, I didn't have to train as much as she originally thought, because extenuating circumstances in my life—er, past life—called for me to get violent and learn certain things, but it still sucked.

Ava, to her credit, was a good teacher. She pushed me to my limit but didn't train me to death. Did I want to kill her sometimes? Yes. Would it be worth it in the end? ...Yes. But, honestly, I think she over prepared me. Surely I wouldn't have to go face death's door every day. Right?

As my "preparation" went on, I began to notice something weird. Anytime I would stop to think about where I was going, I noticed bits of my memory and knowledge about the show disappear. It started with events and eventually I forgot about some of my favorite characters. When I brought it up with Ava, she nodded in understanding.

"One of the conditions of bringing you to this world, is that you forget the events that take place in the show. If Fate wills it, they you will regain that knowledge, by living it. However, this is just a precaution, so you don't try to change some of the events and occurrences. I'm sure you understand why."

Part of me wanted to be upset about them taking my memories, but my logical side overrode that. I've heard of the butterfly effect, and I know myself well enough to know that I _would_ try to prevent some occurrences and deaths. We all know which death I'm talking about.

…Wait, what death? Who dies? DAMMIT! Now I'm going to fuss over this until I forget about it. And I know Ava won't fill in that missing bit of memory. Nor will she tell me exactly _what_ it is that I'm getting upset over.

' _Fucking deities.'_

* * *

Darkness. Finally, something familiar! This was _my_ Darkness. _My_ Nothing. The nothing that used to annoy the hell out of me is now a welcomed comfort. I've missed it.

As my last bit of "preparation," Ava taught me how to control it. "I can't take that away from you. I can do nothing to reverse my brother's tricks," She'd said, "However, I _can_ teach you how to control it so you don't randomly disappear at the worst times."

So here I am, in my Darkness. If I was the type, I could cry at the familiarity. I can't believe how much I'd missed this. I wonder if she knew this would make me feel better.

I took a minute to revel in something familiar before returning to Ava. She looked rather impressed. "I can't believe you learned to control the teleporting that easily. With enough practice, there's almost no limit to the things you could do with that ability. And that should be fine, just so long as you don't try moving between worlds."

"Puh-lease. That is _MY_ Darkness. It's just a matter of visualization. Of course, I don't know how well I'd do trying to get to different places. But I guess that's what practice is for. And don't worry. I'm still trying to grasp the fact that there's more than one world/dimension/thing. I don't think I will be doing any exploring on that topic. I like familiarity. It's going to be hard enough switching to this world. At least I still have a bit of knowledge about some of the more commonly known stuff."

Ava just smiled at me before pulling me into a hug. "I'm sorry. This isn't something you should have to go through."

"The same could be said about most of my li- past life." I replied. I was still trying to adjust to the thought of another life.

When she pulled away, Ava wore a sad expression. So, I did the only thing I could think of. I smiled at her, reassuringly. "Who knows? Maybe this life will be better. I have to say, It's kind of exciting. Getting a new start. Making a name for myself rather than being branded by what's known about my parents."

Ava nodded in understanding, but she still looked a little sad.

"Really, Ava, don't worry about me. It's not your fault anyways. You can't control what your brother does. Besides, you've helped me more than enough already. The fact that I'm getting another chance is—in and of itself—a really big deal."

I think I made her feel a little better because her frown disappeared. "Alright…I think," She paused for a second, probably thinking of how to phrase it, "…you're ready to go."

She looked me over for a second and then nodded, confirming whatever she was thinking. "Yeah, you're ready."

With that, she started walking, something she does often when we talk. "Now, there are some things I should tell you before I take you there. First of all, I'm not going to take you to an island that is in the show—not that you'd remember that anyways. The island is called Agnostos and is in the East Blue."

At that I had to scoff. "You put me through all that hell and then drop me off in the weakest ocean. Yeah, okay."

"I thought you would say that. Just so you know, the island is known for its fiends and monsters."

"They're not fiends or monsters! Those words are relative. Some people would think a deity is a monster. It's a matter of perspective."

She just gave me a knowing smile. "Well then, what would you rather me call them?"

"They're fucking cryptids! Not fiends! Not monsters! And I'm gonna fucking learn about them." Sure, raising my voice probably wasn't the nicest thing to do, but by now, Ava knew me well enough to know that I would get like that.

"But wait-! What about my notebook? There's no way I can remember all those notes to replicate them. And I won't have the internet in this world." There went my good mood. I'm going to have to start from scratch.

Ava smiled at me, reassuringly. "That was one of the things I was going to tell you. I'm going to give you a bag, it's filled with some things that will be necessary for you to start your new life. It holds a change of clothes, a bit of money, those weapons you always train with, and, yes, your notebook."

Good mood restored! How did she know?! I don't think she was prepared for the bone crushing hug I gave her. Normally I wasn't the hugging type, but I thought this was a good exception. Now I'm ready to go on adventures!

She just laughed and patted my back. "Calm down, Ren! There's still one more thing I need to explain."

She held out the bag that literally appeared out of nowhere and spoke. "The clothes you're wearing should be fine for what I have planned."

At my confused expression, she elaborated. "It's not every day a girl mysteriously appears on an island. They'll think you're a witch or something. So, you're going to pretend to be a shipwreck survivor. Fake amnesia. Act like you don't know where you are or where you came from. Trust me, it'll be easier than telling the truth in this situation. The only downside is that you're going to have to physically wash up on the beach. That's why I'm going to watch over you until someone finds you. I don't want you dying again."

Then she held out a necklace. "One last thing. Think of it as a gift. In the cultures that worship us, this is a symbol of protection. And if you ever need me, just call. Literally, just call out. I'll be listening."

I couldn't help the grin that spread across my face. It was weird to have someone worry about me. But it wasn't a bad feeling.

This time when she hugged me, I hugged back. I don't know how long I've known her—again, I couldn't keep track of time here—but it was long enough for a bond to form.

"Good luck," She whispered before there was nothing. Now, I don't mean _my_ Nothing. The Nothing that I'm used to. I mean that there was no floor below me and Ava was nowhere to be found. Oh yeah, and I was falling.

"Are you _FUCKING_ kidding me, Ava?! There could have been a better way to do this!" I shouted against the wind. I swear I heard her laughing. The only thing I could do was make sure my bag was secure around my shoulders before I fell into water.

Unfortunately, I was dropped in the middle of a storm. I barely got my head out of the water when another wave crashed down. This cycle repeated for a few minutes. Then, I blacked out. I was going to be so _pissed_ when I woke up.

I faded in and out of consciousness for a while and, at some point, there was ground beneath me again, but I couldn't really register much more than that. Until I heard someone talking.

"Oh my God! Are you alright?" The voice got quieter as whoever said, "Go get the doctor!"

Then, there was someone kneeling beside me, shaking me. Even though that's not the proper way to treat someone who nearly drowned, it woke me up. I managed to roll to my side to cough up water—a bit too much water, in my opinion—and heard a sigh in relief.

Once I felt I had gotten all of the water out of my lungs, I let myself lay back, gasping to catch my breath. _'Dammit Ava! That was a bit too much.'_

My head was pounding, I was freezing, and each breath almost sent me into a coughing fit. I don't think saltwater is meant to go into your lungs. And, unfortunately, in my brush with death, I managed to inhale quite a bit.

Instead of looking at whoever was next to me, I focused on controlling my breathing. After I finally slowed my breathing and got to the point where I didn't almost cough up a lung every time I inhaled, I opened my eyes. There was a group of five people staring at me. Two of them were crouched on either side of me. They were all eyeing me warily. I just stared back.

Eventually, I was too focused on this awkward standoff to worry about monitoring my breathing. Apparently I hadn't coughed up all the water. Cue another coughing attack. This was _really_ killing my throat.

As I sat up, coughing into my hands, I heard movement behind me. Apparently they were waiting for me to make the first move.

' _If what Ava said was true, they deal with those creatures a lot. Maybe they thought I was one. There are plenty of water-based cryptids/creeps. And more than one can change form.'_

Though, I doubt any of those creatures would pause in attacking to cough up a bunch of water. I had the feeling these people felt the same way.

It's a good thing they felt that way. Otherwise I probably would've been dead. _'I am so sick of passing out.'_ Back to unconsciousness! Allow me to contain my excitement.

* * *

This time when I woke up, I was in a much more comfortable position. They'd moved me to a bed. Awesome. It was much better than the ground I was on earlier.

Keeping my eyes closed, I decided to assess my injuries. My head still ached, but it wasn't as bad as before. And it felt like there was a bandage or something on my right temple and my left shoulder. Great, I must have hit a rock or two before I made it to the beach. I felt rather sluggish, which was pretty normal considering I almost drowned and have been unconscious for who knows how long. My limbs felt a little sore, but that probably came from fighting the current of the water. And, of course, there was a slight catch to my breath every time I inhaled.

I figured something like that would happen, considering how much water I managed to inhale. I should be dead, in all honesty. Who knows how long I was unconscious? Though, I had the feeling my survival can be attributed to a certain deity.

Finally, I got around to opening my eyes to see the room I was in. It looked like a small doctor's office and there was a middle-aged woman sitting, asleep, in a chair to the right of my bed.

' _Where have I seen her before? Maybe she was one of the people from before... Who knows? I'll find out soon enough.'_ I was torn from my thoughts when a voice to my left spoke up.

"Oh, good. You're awake." I heard a man say. I jerked my head to look over.…And instantly regretted it.

"Fuck!" I instantly sat up, cradling my head. Yep, those are bandages. I heard footsteps to my left and suddenly there was someone examining my head.

"Did I get a concussion? I must've hit my head pretty hard…."

He just hummed in confirmation before launching into a questioning session. He asked me things like "Are you feeling any dizziness or pain?" Then he shined a bright-as-fuck light in my eyes. Probably to test the dilation.

After a minute, he leaned back. "Everything seems fine now. Your pupils are dilating regularly and the swelling has gone down drastically. I'm going to keep you here for a bit to keep an eye on you, Miss…?"

"Oh! Ren. My name is Ren. You're the local doctor?"

He nodded, moving to look at my shoulder, removing some of the bandages to replace them. "I am Byram. The woman asleep over there is my wife, Anna. She's the one that found you."

Oh! Right. I'm supposed to be pulling an amnesiac act. Though I don't really like lying to people who went out of their way to help me, I don't think they'd believe me if I told them the truth.

"This is probably a weird question, but, where exactly are we? How did I get here?" Yeah, those sound like good enough questions.

His hands paused in putting medicine on my shoulder and he peered down at me. Wow, he's really using his intimidation factor here. Byram was a pretty big guy. I was 5'9" and I had the feeling I looked like a child compared to him.

He stared at me for a second before, "You're in my office on our island, Agnostos. You washed up on the beach this morning. Anna was going for a walk with her sister this morning and they found you. You nearly drowned. And honestly, Miss Ren, I'm surprised you're still alive."

It was quiet while he finished making sure I wasn't going to die. After he was finished, he pulled up a chair and went back to staring me down. Why? Who knows. Apparently I was still suspicious as fuck. Either way, he was beginning to creep me out.

' _Stop fucking staring. Please say something, this is getting really awkward.'_ Am I really that strange looking? Back home I looked like anyone else. Seriously dude, _stop staring._

Fortunately—or unfortunately, it can be looked at either way—our staring contest was interrupted by the sound of screams coming from outside. It was loud enough to wake Anna from whatever she was dreaming about. "Byram, what's going on?! Those screams aren't the ones we usually hear."

What the fuck? They're used to hearing screams at night?! _'Where the hell did you leave me, Ava?!'_

Both Byram and Anna left the room in a hurry. I followed after them at a slower pace. I followed them through a room and down a hallway. We ended up in what looked like a living room. _'Of course. It would make sense to have their doctor's office in their home. So they can watch over patients overnight. Like me.'_

They stopped in the living room and were peering out the window. I came up behind them to see what was going on, to see something I didn't expect.

' _You've got to be fucking kidding.'_ There was a fucking little girl, covered in blood, running away from something outside. Why the hell aren't they doing anything?! _'Where the hell is everyone?!'_

Byram and Anna both jumped back as a blur ran past the window. It was literally _on_ the wall outside. I guess Ava was right. What the hell runs on walls?

I barely managed to stop Byram from closing the shutters. "What are you-?!"

Surprisingly, he didn't try anything. Maybe it was because of the look I gave him. Feeling a little proud of myself, I moved passed them to look out the window. Wait a second… No fucking way.

"Is that a…?" Not finishing my sentence, I ran back to the room that I woke up in to find my bag. I'll have to thank Ava later for keeping my stuff from getting wet. I pulled out my notebook and flipped to one of the first things I wrote in it.

' _Gaunt to the point of emaciation…ash gray complexion, sunken eyes. And I could smell it from even inside. Great… A fucking Wendigo.'_

That little girl stood no chance of surviving if someone didn't do anything. And, considering how Byram and Anna reacted, no one else will.

Fuck.

' _Alright, let's see. Think Ren. What did Nana used to tell you about the legends? Oh! Oh, oh! I know. Fire!'_

Reading a bit more in my journal confirmed that thought. "Okay…Flammable things…" I wandered around the room, feeling eyes on my back. Finding a roll of bandages, I tucked them in one of my pockets before leaving and going into one of the other rooms we passed earlier.

Luckily, Anna and Byram had exactly what I was looking for in their kitchen. I'll have to apologize later for taking two bottles of their alcohol and a box of matches. I didn't even bother reading the label on the liquor. Before I could make my way to the front door, Byram was blocking me.

"Listen, I appreciate your concern, but if I don't go out there, she's going to die." I said, trying to step around him, only to have him move to block me again.

"You're still injured. Besides. I don't think you can do anything for her. This is something that happens here. We're used to it now."

I scoffed and glared, shouldering past him. "Fuck that. Now, excuse me." If there was something that I wouldn't let slide, it was children being hurt or left to die.

Unfortunately, Byram didn't feel the same, because, he made to grab me. I'm sure he was surprised when, suddenly, he was pushed face first into a wall with his arm twisted behind his back. "Last warning," I growled, looking from him to Anna, "Don't try to stop me. I'm going to get her."

Anna just nodded, stepping back out of my way. I let go of Byram and walked past her to the door. Turning to look back at them before I opened the door, I smiled. "Sorry, but I don't like seeing children in trouble."

Without waiting for an answer, I turned and left, making sure to shut the door behind me. _'Now, she went this way.'_ I turned and started sprinting down the dirt road to my left.

Turns out it wasn't that hard to find the girl. She was leaving a trail of blood. Not too much blood, fortunately, just a few drops here and there, but it was enough for me to see.

I found her cowering into a tree from the wendigo standing a few feet in front of her. But something seemed off. It was looking around, like it couldn't see her. Weird.

' _Wait a second…'_ I picked up a rock by my feet and tossed it past the wendigo, away from the girl, causing mouse to run out of some bushes.

' _That caught its attention. Wait…Shit.'_ It looked in my direction for a few tense seconds, ignoring the mouse in favor of trying to find out what disturbed it.

' _Stay completely still….'_ I don't think I even breathed, while it looked. Turns out my theory was correct, for some weird reason.

Oh great, looks like I'm going to find out. The wendigo started walking in my direction, until it was about a foot away from my face. I barely stopped myself from gasping, partially because of the smell, but also because of its eyes.

' _They're slightly clouded over. So, it can't see clearly. Only movement.'_ And I got to test that theory as soon as it was made. Of all the (bad)luck. I made a mental note to add that bit of information to my journal later.

I noticed movement behind it and looked to see the little girl moving to hide in some of the bushes. _'Good. Stay hidden until I can get to you.'_ We locked eyes for a second and I prayed that she got what I was trying to convey. I've always been told that my eyes are really expressive. Let's hope that remains true in this situation. _'Don't make any sounds. Wait until it's gone.'_ She nodded slightly, seemingly getting what I was trying to say, and slowly crawled under some of the thicker bushes.

I almost jumped when the wendigo let out a huff, sending its putrid breath in my direction. It was times like this that I was glad that I don't vomit easily. After looking around a bit more, the wendigo ran out of our little clearing.

Just to be safe, I stayed still and quiet for a few more minutes, before rushing to the bush the little girl was under. Apparently she wasn't expecting me, because I barely clapped my hand over her mouth before she tried to scream. I shushed her, urging her to be quiet.

"Be quiet!" I whispered, a bit harsher than I had intended, "If you make too much noise it'll come back."

She nodded, keeping her teary eyes on me as I pulled my hand back and pulled the bandages out of my pocket. After quickly examining her, I found out that she had gotten cut on her leg, so I wrapped some of the bandages around it to try and slow the bleeding.

After that, I looked back at her face. She'd stopped crying and had been watching. I offered her a smile and she gave a shaky one back.

"Alright. I need you to wait for me right here. If you see it, don't move, and don't make any noise. I'll be back."

While I spoke, I pulled the cork out of what I found out was a wine bottle and had stuffed some of the bandages in the top. It was crude, but it would have to do. It's not like this world had flamethrowers. A Molotov cocktail was the next best thing in this case. And I had enough for two of them. Hopefully that would be enough to drive it back for long enough to get her out of here. I repeated the process with the other bottle, a bottle of whiskey.

I sent her one more smile, before I stood up and ran out of the clearing, in the direction of the wendigo. Probably not the best choice, but I have to get it away from something that can be really damaged by the fire. Maybe I could lead it to the beach.

So that's where I was headed. As I ran, the bottles tucked into one of my arms, I brought the thumb and index finger of my other hand to my mouth and let out a sharp whistle. It wasn't long until I heard a growling and running footsteps catching up to me. Shit, I forgot it was fast.

I had barely made it to the beach, and away from the houses, when I felt something sharp claw at the back of my thigh.

"Fuck!" My leg gave out on me and I collapsed, sliding a bit from my momentum. And, of course, I dropped my bottles. Shit.

After that, I barely managed to roll out of the way before the wendigo pounced on me. I managed to push myself to my feet. _'Come on, Ren. Don't let yourself die again. Get the bottles.'_

Ignoring the pain in my leg—I'd had worse—and managing to dodge again, I dove for the bottles, pulling the matches out of my pocket. Now, this was going to be tricky. I needed to light the match and then the bandages in one of the bottles, while dodging this asshole. Then I need it to stay in one place long enough for me to throw the bottle.

Another problem I noticed, was that we were on sand. Meaning, it probably wasn't hard enough to break the bottles. Shit, I hadn't thought of that before. _'Wait! There are some rocks over there!'_

Sure enough, past the wendigo—who was crouching and about to lunge again—there was a patch of rocks. Maybe I didn't have that bad of luck after all.

Of course, since I wasn't focusing on the threat in front of me, I almost didn't notice when it moved to jump at me again. And I had nowhere to run to.

So, I did the only thing I could think of.

All at once, any sounds vanished. The only thing I could hear was my pounding heart and my own breath. I couldn't help the smile that broke out over my face at the Darkness. I'd almost forgotten.

I paused to gauge the wound on my leg. I guess the wendigo has some pretty sharp claws, because, like that little girl, I now had four three-inch long claw marks in the back of my thigh. Luckily, it wasn't near my femoral artery, so I wouldn't bleed out really fast. That's good, I guess. It was just going to give me another scar.

Calming my breath and heart rate, I focused. "Okay, I need to get to those rocks. Odds are, I'm going to get back a few seconds after it lunged, so if I can duck under it, I might just be able to avoid gaining another scar for my collection. Then, make a dash for the rocks. Remember, don't look back. That has led to plenty of deaths."

Get it near the rocks so it will be in the range of the fire. The wine bottle had quite a bit of alcohol in it. It hadn't been opened before. So, it should have a good range for the fire to spread over.

Nodding at my plan, I shifted the bottles so the wine bottle was in my left hand. The whiskey bottle was still tucked in my arm. I took a few deep breaths, to calm myself, before going back.

I barely had a second to throw myself forward to dodge more claws. After that, I made a dash for the rocks. The wendigo let out a shriek behind me, probably cursing the fact that it missed its target again.

I didn't have to look back to know that it was racing after me. Instead, I focused on getting one of the matches lit. I really only had one chance with this. Because it used to be human, a wendigo was still extremely smart, even resorting to imitation to draw out prey. So, if it saw the fire, odds are it would either try to rush me—more than it was now—or try to flank me.

I smirked a bit when the lit match easily caught the tip of the bandage on fire. Perfect. Now I just need to get the wendigo in position. Awesome timing, too. I just ran over the rocks.

Whirling around, I noticed my plan going perfectly. It was standing right in the middle of the rocks. Before it could see what I was holding, I flung the lit wine bottle at the ground just in front of the wendigo.

Now, I'd never actually used a Molotov cocktail in person. I'd just seen enough movies and video games to know what should've happened, in theory at least. It was just as awesome as I'd hoped.

Pausing my reveling in the fact that my plan actually worked, I lit the other bottle and tossed it as well. That'll teach the bastard.

The wendigo shrieked and writhed, eventually falling to the ground. It'd been covered in alcohol when the bottles broke. "You know, Nana used to tell me that you guys were really smart. Why didn't you think of jumping in the ocean literally ten feet away?" Pretty stupid, really.

Once I was sure that it wouldn't jump me, and having more than enough of the smell of burning flesh, I walked past the mass of a burning body and made my way back to the little girl.

As soon as I walked into the clearing, she was climbing out of her hiding spot. "You're okay! I was really worried! I thought it was gonna eat you!"

Now she had fresh tears coming down her face. She latched her arms around my hips and seemed like she didn't plan on letting go anytime soon. So, I leaned down and picked her up, careful to not hurt her leg. She instantly wrapped her arms around my neck, almost chokingly tight. I felt tears dripping on my neck and shoulders.

"Alright, kiddo. Let's get you to the doctor."

To say that Byram and Anna were shocked at seeing me carrying a crying little girl would've been an understatement. The only thing that stopped them from gawking at me for a long time was the sight of blood seeping through the bandages I wrapped around the girl's leg.

While Byram was checking our injuries, the little girl—Serah, she'd told me—told us what she was doing out in the middle of the night when it was obviously dangerous.

Apparently her dog, Kiba, had disappeared that day. Later that night, she heard Kiba barking at something outside and ran out to get him, only to be attacked by the wendigo.

"I thought I was gonna die, and I wouldn't be able to see Mama or Kiba again. Then you showed up! And you saved me." She was smiling down at me now. I smiled back.

I was lying on a table while Byram looked at my thigh. I had informed him that it hadn't cut my femoral artery. I also apologized for being kind of rude earlier.

As he examined my leg, they started the questioning that I had been waiting for.

Anna, who had just come back with some tea, sat down next to Serah and asked. "What happened to that creature?"

"Oh that? I set it on fire." I just shrugged my good shoulder.

Cue another staring contest. Serah even joined in this time.

"What? They don't like fire. If there's one thing that I _do_ remember right now, it's that my Nana told me about those things when I was younger. It's called a wendigo, by the way. I also remember my name, but that's not all that important right now."

Then I pulled a fake thoughtful face. "But why can't I remember anything else?"

Byram, who until now had been putting bandages on my thigh, finally spoke. "You had a pretty bad wound on your head. I'm not surprised if it caused some form of amnesia."

I nodded, sitting up. "Retrograde then. And it was caused by a head wound. So, post-traumatic, maybe? Probably." After thinking, I nodded again. "That makes sense."

Damn, am I that weird? I feel really awkward being stared at constantly. "…What?"

"Miss Ren, do you think you were working to become a doctor? At your home, I mean. It makes sense. Earlier, after you woke up, when I was examining you, you spoke in technical terms regarding your injuries." I didn't even notice it. I guess it must be second nature by now, at least when I'm around doctors.

Again, I shrugged, keeping up the façade. "I dunno. That sounds kinda right, though. But not exactly a doctor. Maybe a nurse?" Back home I had gone to a lot of first aid and nursing classes. I'd always figured that it would be useful sometime, considering my upbringing. It wasn't enough for me to be a doctor, but thinking back, it has been useful. I think it will be in the future, as well. I'm in a world of pirates, after all.

"You don't know where your home is?" Serah spoke up, looking a bit sad.

"No, I don't. But that's okay. If it was really that easy to forget, maybe it wasn't worth remembering." I gave her a reassuring smile, which she returned.

"But I don't know what I'm going to do from here, though."

There was a clap and we all turned to look at Anna, who had a big grin on her face. "That's perfect! You can help out here then! At least until you remember, or decide on something else."

"Anna, you can't just volunteer people for jobs. We've talked about this." Byram looked like he was about to go into a rant.

Fortunately, Anna cut him off. "You need help. You overwork yourself too much. Plus, it lets you keep an eye on her amnesia, to see if it gets any better."

After that, she led me to a bathroom to get cleaned up and changed into a clean pair of clothes that she had kindly supplied. I didn't think the clothes Ava packed would be a good choice until my wounds were healed. I could hear them arguing as I got dressed. I just ignored it in favor of finally getting the blood and whatever else off of me.

After all was said and done. I was dressed in a loose fitting white tank top and a pair of black shorts. ' _Simple, but it will be easier for Byram to check my injuries in these clothes.'_ He had already told me that I wasn't allowed to do any "strenuous" activities until my wounds were healed.

With that done, I limped back into the office. Byram and Anna were still arguing—if you could call it that. I just smirked as I sat down on the table I had been on earlier.

I just watched them as they talked back and forth. Serah was giggling next to me. I guess this happens often. That's adorable.

Eventually, as I had expected, Anna won the argument and asked if it was alright with me. Of course, I agreed. _'That saves me the trouble of looking for a job myself.'_

Looks like I've got a new home, even if it's temporary.


	3. Chapter 2: Enter Monkey D Luffy

Monkey D. Luffy has just started on his journey to be the pirate king. He even managed to make it to an island without any trouble! Victory! He probably would've taken the time to celebrate, if he wasn't so hungry. And something smelled sooooo good! Anyone who knows Luffy knows, if he smells food, he's going to want to eat it. So that's what he set out to do! At least, he tried to, but when he got close to the only restaurant he had seen on this island, he was tackled by a mass of brown fur.

Now there was a dog licking his face which, while unexpected, wasn't a bad thing. They say that animals can sense good people. Besides, maybe this dog knows that Luffy's going to be the pirate king and he's congratulating him or something. Luffy, being Luffy, did nothing but laugh and pat the dog's head.

He could barely hear anything until a voice called, "Kiba! Don't smother people! I've told you about this! Get back here!" When the dog, Kiba, didn't move, there was a sigh. "Fine, I guess someone's not getting a treat later."

As if those were magic words, the dog quickly climbed off of Luffy in favor of running to a woman a few feet away. She had a hand pressed to her forehead, but was smirking nonetheless. Luffy just grinned as he stood up. This place sure was funny.

After shooing the dog inside, she turned to Luffy, and he was finally able to get a good look at her. She was an inch or so taller than him with shoulder length dark brown hair and grey-blue eyes and wore a light grey shirt with sleeves that went to her elbows. Over that she wore a black vest. She also wore pants made from the same material as her vest and a pair of laced up, knee high boots and a belt wrapped through the loops around the waist line of her pants. And it looked like she had a necklace tucked into the neckline of her shirt.

She gave a small, meek smile and addressed Luffy. "I'm sorry about Kiba. He's just as spastic as his owner sometimes. You're the one that just came to the island right? I'm Ren."

* * *

It's almost been a whole year since I came to Agnostos Island. By now, I'm pretty well acquainted with everyone on the island.

And now, I _finally_ realize why it was so weird for the first couple of days after I started living here. Agnostos doesn't get a lot of visitors. There have been about five since I started living here. Anna explained to me that it was because our island wasn't on any outside maps. She told me it was to keep people away. So they wouldn't get attacked by the wendigo, which, of course, was still a problem. Turns out there's more than one. So, yeah. That sucks.

Anyways, like Anna asked, I have been helping Byram out in his clinic. Even though he didn't like it at first—probably because I shoved him into a wall—I think he's grown to like me, or at least tolerate me. Serah brings Kiba by everyday to see me. It's nice, being in a place where people don't despise you.

Today was looking to be a pretty good day. Work was rather slow—strangely, there hadn't been an attack last night—which meant that Byram and I spent the time playfully bantering. This man was a master of sarcasm. I think it's why we get along as well as we do.

So that's how we spent the morning, until Serah came in with Kiba, like clockwork. We usually go to lunch together. Serah's mother works at the only restaurant in town. The food was always awesome, so no one complained.

"I'll be back after lunch!" I called out while we walked out the door, hearing a response from Anna in the back room.

"Don't come back!" Byram called from the hall, smirking at me. To which I flipped him off, out of Serah's view, of course. I tone down my cursing and stuff when she's around. Got to be a good role model and all.

"Did you hear?" Serah asked while we walked down the dirt road trailing behind Kiba, who liked to pause to smell random things that he passed by.

"Hear what? We've only had Miss Mae in the clinic today and that was earlier this morning."

"Bennie said he saw a ship coming in this direction!"

"Really?" I asked, amused at her excitement, "When did he see this 'ship?'"

She patted Kiba when he made his way back to us and answered, "A few minutes before I came to get you. He said it was ginormous!"

At this, I had to let out a little laugh. "Serah, you know Bennie likes to overdo it when it comes to certain things. Remember that 'ginormous' toad from a few weeks ago?"

She just pouted, making me laugh again. "Yeah, but still. It means that someone's coming to the island. That's kinda weird, isn't it?"

Kiba cocked his head at his master, but quickly forgot when I scratched his ears. "I guess it is pretty weird. I wonder who it is this time."

Serah quickly let the conversation go when the restaurant came into view. "Come on! Mama said she was gonna bake some pie today for dessert!" With that, she ran ahead.

"Calm down, Serah! You've got to eat lunch first!" I called after her, letting out another laugh.

That girl and her pie. She treated it like the best thing ever. I'm pretty sure she liked pie more than Kiba, and she almost died for him.

Speaking of Kiba… "Kiba! Don't smother people! I've told you about this! Get back here!"

When I was ignored, I sighed. "Fine, I guess someone's not getting a treat later."

At the mention of a treat, he rushed over to me, almost knocking _me_ over. But at least his other victim was spared a fluff filled death. I just shooed the dog inside after Serah and turned to whoever he was attacking with affection.

I looked over to see a grinning face that I didn't recognize, but for some reason, I felt that I should know it. Above the face, a straw hat was planted firmly on a mop of black hair.

"I'm sorry about Kiba. He's just as spastic as his owner sometimes. You're the one that just came to the island right? I'm Ren." I said, holding out a hand.

He just grinned, shaking my hand. "It's okay. He must like me or something! I'm Luffy."

Still trying to figure out why he seemed familiar, I gestured to the restaurant. "Even so, let me make it up to you. I'll buy you lunch."

His eyes lit up and if it was possible, I think there would have been sparkles. "Really?! Thanks!" With that, he ran in the restaurant.

' _What a strange guy. Why the hell can't I figure out where I know him from?!'_ Deciding I can ask Ava later, I follow him inside. He was sitting at a big table by himself, talking to a gawking Cherise. Serah was standing between her mother and Kiba, laughing at something.

Walking over, I called to Cherise, "It's cool. I'm paying. Whatever he wants."

"R-ren? Are you sure? He just ordered three of everything!"

Wow. I've got to give the guy props. I wholly believe that he could eat all of that, too. "Yeah, It's cool. Kiba almost smothered him in affection earlier. I'm repaying him. Add some of your pasta salad on there for me and some tea, as well as whatever Serah was wanting."

"Kiba! What have I told you-?! I'm so sorry. I'll get your food right out." With that, she went back into the kitchen.

After she left, I sat down across from our strange visitor, ignoring the weird stares from the other people in the restaurant. I was used to that by now. Serah followed my lead and sat beside me.

"So, Mister Luffy, what brings you here?" She asked, ignoring the stares as well.

Luffy's ever present grin widened. "I just started my journey to be the pirate king! I'm looking for crewmembers right now. Then, we're gonna go to the Grand Line."

I barely managed to catch the drinks that our waiter dropped. "Careful, Cyrus." I chided, setting them on the table and distributing them. Cyrus apologized, still a bit pale in the face, and went back into the kitchen.

"The pirate king?! So cool!" Looks like Luffy has an admirer.

Wait a second…Pirate king? Getting crewmembers? Finally, it clicked. _'Dammit Ava! You knew this was going to happen! I should kick your ass!'_

Meanwhile, Luffy and Serah were happily chatting away, oblivious to my inner turmoil. I was cursing my deity friend in every language I knew. I didn't even know why, but, for some reason, I had the feeling that trouble followed this kid. And I wanted no part of it. _'Fucking deities taking my memories! I feel like this could be really important.'_

This past year, I hadn't given any thought to the fact that this world was just a show/manga in that other world. Now, it was made obvious once again, because, I was pretty sure I was sitting across from one of the main characters. And it was all Ava's fault.

Suddenly her once-cryptic words made sense. _'"If fate wills it" my ass. You planned this, didn't you?'_ I felt like she was watching me and I could just imagine the amusement in her eyes at some of the thoughts that went through my head.

Eventually, I had to stop wishing pain on Ava, because our food arrived. Good, I was starting to get hungry. They had to get several people to help bring out all the food that Luffy'd ordered. It was really funny to watch.

You know what else was funny to watch? The way Luffy ate food. The guy was like a bottomless pit. I'm pretty sure he even ate some of the plates. I'm also pretty sure that no one, except for Serah and me, wanted to be anywhere near him. Maybe they were afraid he'd eat them too.

After I finished eating, I watched everyone around us. Their expressions were enough to make me bust out laughing, completely forgetting about my earlier problem.

Luffy barely paused in his eating to look at me. "What are you laughing at?" His voice was muffled slightly by his mouth full of food.

I let out another peal of laughter before I could answer. "Everyone looks so shocked. I don't think they actually believed you could eat that much." Even Serah looked a bit shocked and she had been cheering him on just minutes before.

At that, I received a few glares, renewing my laughter. I don't think I'd ever laughed that much.

Eventually, I was able to stop laughing, and Luffy finished eating. So, I paid and we all left, but not before Serah said goodbye to her mother.

As we were walking back down the road, we ran into Anna. "Ren," She started, smiling at all of us, "Byram asked me to let you know you have the rest of the day off. Because things have been going so slow, he figured now would be a good time to give you a break."

"Yay! That means you can stay with us for a while!" Serah was already celebrating.

Smiling at the girl, I turned to Anna. "Alright, but if something happens, come get me."

She agreed and left, saying something about errands. When she was gone, Serah grabbed Luffy's and my hands and started dragging us off in a random direction. Kiba trailed along behind us, stopping to sniff something or greet people, but he always stayed close enough to keep an eye on Serah. How cute.

' _Glad to know I'm loved.'_ I thought laughing along with Luffy. "Serah, we're following you. You don't have to drag us!" She just ignored me. She's lucky I love her.

"So, where do you work?"

I looked over at Luffy, who still had that grin. "I help out our local doctor. He likes to overwork himself, so when I showed up, his wife, Anna—we saw her a minute ago—asked me to help out."

"Oh! So you're a doctor?" Why did he seem so excited?

"Not exactly. There are still a lot of things I'd need to learn to be considered a doctor. I mostly know first aid."

He made an "ohh" sound and nodded. I looked up then, to finally realize where Serah was taking us. Seriously? You would think she'd had enough of this place. She almost died here, after all.

"Serah," I started, sighing, "You know Cherise and I don't like you coming here. It's too close to the caves."

She slowed down, letting go of our hands and moving to sit down in the middle of the clearing. Then, she pouted up at me. "But you're here. So's Luffy. We should be fine, right? Plus, it's daytime."

By then, Luffy'd plopped down beside her, looking a little more than confused. Great. _'I'm not going to be able to change their minds, am I?'_

With that in mind, I sat down, making sure to keep an eye on the woods behind Serah. We never see a wendigo come out during the day, but I wanted to be safe.

Luffy, who had, surprisingly, been quiet finally asked, "What?"

I'd been waiting for him to ask. But before I could open my mouth to explain, Serah was already talking away.

"There are monsters in the caves on this island. They're really scary. They like to come out at night and take people and eat them."

"Woah! Really?!" Did he really need to be so excited about man-eating creatures? It took me a second to realize that he was looking to me for confirmation, so I nodded.

"Yeah. They're nasty fuckers- Wait! Serah, don't repeat that! Your mom will have my head!" My language was going to be the death of me. Odds are, Cherise would be the one to kick my ass.

With Serah looking confused and Luffy laughing, I sighed, "Sorry. Force of habit. Anyways, yes. We have creatures in our caves that come to the town at night to kidnap people and take them away to eat them. So, if you're staying the night, I suggest you stay inside."

Luffy didn't look too scared, but I kind of expected that. He seemed like that kind of guy. "I'll just beat 'em up!"

I couldn't help but let out a short laugh at that. "While that would be pretty cool, it won't do much. You'll probably just pi- make them angry. Unfortunately—as much as I hate using the word—Serah was right when she called them monsters. Their skin has toughened into some ridiculous armor. And, while you're trying to beat them to a pulp, they'll get you with their claws or teeth. Probably try to gut you, too."

"They almost got me once." Serah started, showing the scar on the back of her left calf, "But Ren came to save me. She even killed one of them!"

Now I'm being stared at. Again. And here I thought I'd gotten used to it.

"Woah! Really?! How'd you do that?!" Luffy stared at me in—was that awe? Well, that's different. When they found out I killed the wendigo, the others looked at me like I was really weird.

Slightly uncomfortable—I never really liked being the center of attention—I answered, "Fire. Burned it to a crisp. It was pretty gross, really. The smell was the worst part."

It's true. When some of the townspeople went to investigate its body, the smell alone was enough for them to lose anything and everything in their stomachs. Byram, who had a much stronger stomach, had ended up moving it. Even he looked a bit green in the face. I offered to help, but I was confined to the bed. Along with my injuries, I ended up developing pneumonia from my near-drowning. It sucked.

Luffy, to his credit, didn't look bothered, surprisingly. Instead, he asked, "How'd you know to do that?"

I sat back for a minute, not for the first time remembering to omit certain things for my façade of amnesia. "The place I'm from—wherever it is—has legends of these creatures, and others. These in particular are called wendigoes. They used to be humans. But something happened to them and they became these grotesque, weird creatures. I know so much because I want to learn more about them. But not just them, other creatures. They're called cryptids."

"Cryp-whats?" Luffy looked interested and confused.

"Cryptids." I couldn't help the smirk on my face. "They're very interesting creatures. Most people don't believe they even exist, because there have only ever been stories, but the fact that I've seen a wendigo here gives me hope that the others are real, too. I want to document them."

Luffy was just grinning at me. "Oh! Sorry. I almost went on a rant. Everyone here knows not to get me started 'cause most of the time I won't stop and they have to get Byram to calm me down. I guess I can be pretty annoying sometimes."

He didn't stop grinning. "You should come with me! That way you can keep looking for others! You probably won't find any more if you stay here forever."

' _Wait, did he really just ask me to join his crew?'_ Pardon my gawking. That was really unexpected.

When I finally recovered, is smirked at him, "I don't know. Let me think about it."

That didn't seem to deter him. His grin never left. Serah looked torn between excitement and sadness. I kept the smirk on my face and returned to looking around.

I froze. Eyes were peering out from the dark cover of the trees. It was hard to tell from this distance, but they looked slightly clouded over. What the fuck was that thing doing outside during the daytime?! Kiba seemed to notice it, too, because he was growling low in his throat next to me, looking in the same direction.

Serah and Luffy were oblivious, talking and laughing about who knows what. Kiba and I were watching the asshole in the bushes. Meanwhile, it was watching Serah. Fuck. No.

I shifted, moving to stand up, and its eyes shot to my form. They narrowed and then disappeared. Just like that. It was gone. So, I settled back down, and patted Kiba to ease him. His tail wagged a few times but he kept staring in the direction that the wendigo had been seconds ago.

Clenching my jaw, I continued to scan the bushes. There was nothing at first, and then, rustling. There was something moving in the bushes. Moving _fast_. There was more than one. Dammit.

Kiba's growling had gone to full-blown snarling at this point. Luffy and Serah were staring at him, confused.

I stood up. "Alright. Our little picnic is over. Let's head back into town. Now." Leaving no room for argument, I waited for them to get up and start walking.

"What's wrong, Ren?" Serah looked scared so I smiled at her reassuringly.

"Nothing, sweetie. I just remembered that I need to talk to Byram about something and you know I don't like you being here without me. So I'm going to drop you off with your mom and Luffy and I are going to the clinic." She seemed to buy it and started walking into town. Luffy just shrugged and moved to catch up with her, resuming their earlier conversation.

I whistled for Kiba and followed after them, hearing him running to catch up. He came up to me and whimpered a bit, looking up at me. "Come on boy. It's alright. I won't let them get her." I scratched his head and looked behind us one last time. There was nothing now. They'd gone.

That seemed to appease Kiba, because he trotted along to catch up to Serah and Luffy.

It didn't take long for us to reach Cherise's restaurant. She seemed surprised to see us so soon. I managed to pull her away while Luffy and Serah were _still_ talking about something. I never bothered to listen to what they were saying.

When we got far enough away for them to not hear us I got serious. "I need you to keep an eye on Serah. Keep her inside for the rest of the day. Maybe tomorrow, too."

Her smile dropped and she stepped closer. Must be the motherly instinct and all that. She was completely serious now. "What happened?"

"Serah decided she wanted to go to the clearing today. The one where I found her that night." I started, monitoring her expression, "Things were going fine at first. We explained to Luffy about our local problem."

I paused for a second. To be honest, I was still pissed off. The nerve of those assholes. Coming out in the daytime. And more than one at a time. As far as I knew, that never happened.

"The wendigoes. They were in the woods. Hiding in the shadows. And from what I could tell, they have their sights set on her." Cherise looked fit to interrupt, so I cut her off. "If the way one of the assholes was watching her is anything to go by. Look, Cherise, I don't have any _motherly instinct_ or any of that shit, but I care about Serah. Just like I care about Anna and Byram. For her safety, keep her inside. Just to be safe. I'll be nearby, to keep an eye on things tonight. I'm not gonna let them hurt her."

Seriously, if I almost gave my life for the girl before I even knew her, hell would freeze over before I let anything else happen to her.

Cherise seemed to accept that, nodding. She didn't lose her concerned face, though. She'd have to change that when she went back to Serah. No need getting the girl scared.

"Does that mean that there'll be more of them out tonight?" Her voice was quiet, like she thought they would hear her.

"There were more than one out _today_. I don't know how many there were. Just, let everyone that comes in know to be extra careful tonight. And try not to let Serah know. You know how she is. It'll just make her scared. Make sure to keep Kiba inside, too. We don't need a repeat of last time."

By then, Cherise had gone almost ashen. I could understand. Those assholes were essentially stalking her daughter. They were planning something.

Nana always told me that they were smart. It made sense, because they used to be human. So, I guess it kind of made sense that they could plan things. That doesn't make me feel any better though.

I still had no fucking clue how many there were. Nor did I know _where_ they made their home. Sure, I knew the general area, but those caves go throughout the entire island and up into the hills. _'Shit. Shit! What the hell am I gonna do?! I need time to think! And I need my notebook. Maybe there's something I missed in there.'_

Of course, I knew I hadn't missed anything. Since I've come here, I've read that thing too many times to count. That wouldn't stop me from reading it again, though.

Cherise put on a happy face when we went back to Luffy and Serah, agreeing with me that we shouldn't worry Serah about it. She took Serah back into the kitchen, to make Luffy more food. She wasn't even shocked when he ordered the same amount as earlier. At least she was doing what I asked. Plus, it gave me a chance to explain to Luffy what happened in the clearing.

Luffy sat at the same table as before, waiting for me to sit down across from him before asking, "So, those things from earlier. Are they the windy-guys?"

Well, that was a shocker. I'll have to apologize later. I honestly thought he wouldn't notice them. He seemed so immersed in his conversation with Serah. Who'd have thought that this silly, clueless-seeming guy, would be able to notice these things that I only noticed because I was looking? He just keeps surprising me.

Oh, great, I'm gawking again. Not a good look for me. I need to stop that. Besides, something tells me that this guy is just full of surprises.

"What?" He inquired about my staring.

"I though you hadn't noticed. You were so into your conversation. I was gonna explain it to you now, but I guess I don't have to."

He just laughed at my shock. Maybe this happens often? He just brushed it off so easily.

"So, if you noticed them, did you also notice them watching Serah?"

That quieted him. Which made me slightly uneasy. For some reason, I was apprehensive at seeing Luffy turn serious. "Yeah." That was all he said.

It was quiet for a moment before I decided to explain, "Serah told you that one of them almost got her. They would've too, if I hadn't gotten there in time. And even though she acts like it doesn't bother her, she'll still have nightmares about it sometimes. She'll sneak into my room at the clinic, crying. Saying that no one came for her. That they all left her. And that's what would've happened if I hadn't washed up on the beach that day."

Luffy was still quiet, listening to me closely. "As shocking as it sounds, when they heard her screaming that night, everyone else in town just locked their windows. 'At least it's not me' or something like that. It pisses me off. That's why I don't get along well with a lot of the people here. These kind of people, I hate them. If a complete stranger is willing to save this little girl, then why isn't anyone who's known her for her entire life?! It's fucked up!" I might've yelled that last bit, but I didn't care.

For some reason, I needed to tell him. Something about this kid made me want to tell him. It was weird. I hadn't told anyone else some of this. Not even Anna or Byram.

"At first, I thought even her mother had left her to die, until Cherise came into the clinic the next day. She came in crying 'My baby girl!' She thought Serah had been killed, or at least taken off. She came to Anna because that's what everyone does. Anna is like the town's therapist or something. Imagine how surprised she was to see her little girl sitting at the kitchen table, drinking milk. It was loud enough to wake me up.

I paused for a second when they brought Luffy's food out. Smiling at Serah when she came up to us, I waited until they were out of earshot to continue.

"I would have killed Cherise when I first met her. For all I knew, she'd just left her daughter to die or be eaten. Byram had to hold me back from kicking her ass. Eventually, she was able to explain that she had tried to run after Serah. 'Damned be the consequences!' She said, 'That's my baby girl.' But her husband, that asshat, knocked her out. Because she would let them in the house if she opened the door.

"The asshole was more worried about himself than about saving his daughter. Then, he had the nerve to come into the clinic, blubbering about how worried he was. How he was 'just about to go search the woods for her' and how 'the monsters knocked him out' before he could save his daughter. So, I did what can be expected of me. I kicked his fucking ass. Byram tried to stop me, at least, partially did. I think he wanted to do the exact same thing.

"That little girl means a lot to me, Luffy. I'm not going to let them hurt her. But, I don't know if I'll be able to take all of them on by myself."

"That's stupid!" What? Before I could ask him what the hell his problem was, he continued, "Who said you'd have to do it all by yourself? I'm gonna help you!"

I could've cried, if I was the type. For some reason, I trusted him. Maybe he was just that kind of person. I even felt some of the stress melt off my shoulders. _'Maybe I won't have to yell at Ava after all.'_

We stayed in the restaurant for a while longer. I spent the time halfway participating in a conversation with Luffy and Serah, who joined us shortly after our conversation ended. I needed to think of a plan. Of course, I was going to be near the restaurant—Cherise's house was just behind it—but I couldn't do much to a wendigo without fire. And I can't necessarily use fire because I don't want to set the town ablaze.

' _Maybe I could lure them away?'_ No that wouldn't work. They wouldn't all follow me. I doubted even one would follow me. They had their eyes on Serah in that clearing. No one else.

However, I couldn't make a very good plan anyways. I had Luffy to account for, too. I had no idea what he was capable of. Plus, he seemed kind of unpredictable, so I doubted he'd stick to a plan anyways. _'We'll just have to keep watch. I'll decide what to do when something happens.'_ It'll have to do.

We ended up staying even after Luffy had finished his food. I found out that Serah had told him about my condition sometime during the day, which furthered his argument that I should join his crew.

"Maybe if you come with me, you'll find your home. Then you'll remember everything!"

I shrugged, not entirely answering his request to join him. "Just like I've told everyone else. I don't really care about where I came from. If it was really important to me, I wouldn't have forgotten about it."

About that time, Cherise came up to our table, saying that she needed Serah to start on her chores, to which Serah pouted and bid us good bye. When Cherise made to follow her, I grabbed her hand. "Cher, don't worry. We're not going to let anything happen to Serah." Luffy just nodded across from me, smiling away.

Cherise smiled at us, before turning and walking away. I moved to get up, pulling out my wallet, when she called out, "Don't worry about paying. It's on me."

So, I shrugged, putting my wallet back and motioned for Luffy to follow me. We walked outside and I noticed that we'd been in there for at least two hours. No wonder my legs were stiff. As I lead Luffy in the direction of the clinic, he spoke up, looking genuinely curious, "You said earlier that they used to be human, but they changed. What does that mean?"

Ah, so I get to go into one of my rants today. Good. And he seems willing to listen. So, I started to explain, "Wendigoes are usually found in cold areas—in mountains and the like—where things are a bit harder on people. There are many stories about them, different variations, but they all have one thing in common, cannibalism." I laughed at his grossed out face.

"I know, it's gross. The story I know very well says that when a person has to endure this hardship—say being caught in a blizzard with no supplies—they will grow desperate. The desperation can often lead to them actually turning on each other and, eventually, eating each other. When a person in this circumstance succumbs to the need for food by eating another human, it's said that they're possessed by a malevolent—evil—spirit, called the wendigo spirit. They eventually go mad and become extremely violent.

"The only thing they will think about is eating more. They'll become obsessed with human flesh. Of course, as you can imagine, living only on human flesh isn't the healthiest thing in the world. They transform until they aren't even a semblance of the human they used to be. No humanity left. All they care about is feeding. So, their bodies change to fit this diet. They get incredibly fast, strong. It's surprising, because they look like walking skeletons almost. Even so, the best way I can describe them is half-beast. Their claws and teeth are something you would only see on a hunting animal. Because that's what they've become. Hunters.

"It was only when I got here that I realized that their eyesight also changes. Their eyes become better, but worse. Meaning, they can see the tiniest movements, but that's all they can see, movement. If you stay still, they won't be able to notice you. That's how Serah and I managed to stay alive that night.

"But, there's something else. Because they used to be human, they still have the intelligence of a human. That means that they are capable of planning. And they don't fall for the same trick twice. That's why I haven't killed anymore of them. Because they know better. It sucks, but it just means that I'll have to think of another way to deal with them."

For his credit, Luffy seemed to be absorbing what I said. He nodded at various times throughout my explanation and cocking his head at some of the more confusing stuff—leading to more explaining. His eyes didn't glaze over either! Score! Finally, someone listened to me explain stuff. I'm starting to like this kid.

By the time I finished explaining, we had made it to the clinic. I barely stepped in the door when a knife came hurtling towards my face. I sighed and, poof, Nothing. During the past year, I've come here a lot. Mostly to keep myself in shape. I can't really train or anything around the clinic. In that time, I've managed to learn to control how much time passed there before I went back.

Of course, since I'm living with them, Byram and Anna eventually learned about my little ability. Byram likes to use it to tease me, which is why I wasn't all that upset about him throwing a knife at me. It happened pretty often. Just so long as there weren't any patients in the room.

Unfortunately, because I was blocking his view, Byram didn't see our guest, someone who didn't know about my little secret. Which explains the excitement that happened when I went back, just seconds later.

Rather than being weirded out by my sudden disappearing act, Luffy was excited. "Wow! That was so cool! What happened?!"

I just shot Byram a dry look for getting me in this predicament. Great, more explaining.


	4. Chapter 3: They're Dead, I Think

Byram at least managed to look guilty at getting me in this situation. Anna looked ready to kick his ass, which would be extremely amusing to see. Unfortunately, I wouldn't be able to.

I sighed. "Alright, come on Luffy. It's time for another explanation." Why was I having to explain so much today? I blame Ava.

I shot Byram a look before leading Luffy back to my room, mostly because my stuff was in there and I needed to start getting ready. As I closed the door, I could hear Anna starting to scold her husband for his "childish behavior." I wasn't even that upset. At least, not anymore. Byram was in the doghouse tonight.

I pulled out the chair from my desk and gestured for Luffy to sit on the bed, sitting down myself beside the desk. _'Now then, how to start_ this _explanation.'_

Luffy saved me by asking, "So, what did you do?"

Cracking a smile at his excitement, I started, "I have this ability, that I only learned to control in the past couple of years. It lets me disappear and reappear at will. When I disappear, I go to this place that is literally Darkness. Nothing. So that's what I call it. Nothing. I can control how long I'm gone and I'm hoping that I'll eventually be able to control _where_ I come back to. Right now I can only appear in the same spot I disappeared from. It's a process but I've come a long way from where I was two years ago."

Wow. That wasn't as long of an explanation as I thought. Woo! Go me!

As I explained, Luffy just looked more and more excited. He looked fit to burst when I finished. "That's sooooo cool! Now you _have_ to join my crew. I'm not taking no for an answer!"

That…really wasn't the response I had been expecting. So, I couldn't help but laugh. Maybe it was from the relief. He didn't think I was a freak. Byram and Anna are my friends, but I'm pretty sure that they think I'm kinda weird. If their behavior sometimes is anything to go by.

So, I laughed. "Maybe, just maybe. I'll decide after we get through the night."

He seemed to accept that answer and went about examining my room. I didn't have much, because I didn't need much. The bag that Ava gave me sat on my desk. My journal and weapons were in it. Speaking of weapons.

I couldn't help feeling a bit safer, when I pulled my weapons out. First I pulled out a dagger similar to the one hidden in my boot. I attached its sheathe to my belt. Then I pulled out a small pouch, fitting it on my other side. Gotta have my throwing knives. The last thing I pulled out, my main weapon looked like a short pole, about the length of my forearm.

Luffy watched me as I emptied my bag, a bit confused by what I held in my hand. "What's that?"

I grinned at him. "My weapon of choice, of course." Pressing a small, inconspicuous button, I released the locking mechanism and a blade shot out on either side of the handle. A double bladed sword.

Luffy jumped back at first, before getting closer to see. Holding it out for him to see, I balanced it on my finger. Perfect balance. This thing was going to save my ass one day, I just knew it.

"Awesome!" Luffy watched as I pressed the button again, putting the blades back inside the handle, before fastening it to the back of my belt.

Sure, these blades won't do anything to a wendigo, but it makes me feel better to have them.

After all was said and done, I set about rereading my journal for the umpteenth time. Pulling it out of my bag, I settled back into my chair.

"Whatcha doing?" Luffy asked from the bed, cocking his head to the side.

So, I held up my journal to show him. "I'm reading. Just to make sure I haven't missed anything. At this point I doubt I have, but it's just in case."

"Oh, okay." He got up and started moving around my room, obviously bored. What a dork. This went on for a bit until there was a knock on my door.

"Yeah?" I called, not bothering to go open it. The door opened and Byram peeked through. I didn't have to look to know Anna was right behind him. His eyes widened at the new additions to my outfit.

"You look fit to kill someone. What happened?" At this, he pushed the door open the rest of the way and Anna stepped forward to see.

I gave a placating smile and shook my head. "Nothing happened. It's nothing for you to worry about." After that, I went back to reading my journal, hoping to end their attempt at a discussion.

Unfortunately, I wasn't that lucky. Anna was having none of it. "It doesn't look like nothing. Ren, what's going on?"

I didn't even get to answer. "We're gonna fight the windy-guys."

Are you fucking serious, Luffy?! Gritting my teeth at the argument that was sure to come, I sat back, focusing on my journal. _'It's okay, Ren. He didn't know.'_ I kept telling myself that. Surely he wouldn't want to get in this much trouble.

"WHAT?!" Oh look, they yelled in sync. They must be really pissed. Well shit.

And that's how I have a really tall redhead towering over my chair. Oh well, it's not the first time he's been pissed at me. Either way, he's not going to stop me from helping Serah.

"Ren." He ground out.

I just scoffed, snapping my journal closed. "I don't want to hear it, Byram. Just forget it."

"Not a chance in hell. Tell me." Great, now he's in my face. Haven't I told him about that?

I looked at Luffy and nodded to the door, telling him to head outside. I'd be right behind him. He went along with it, moving past Anna with that smile still in place. How does that kid stay so happy all the time?

I sighed and grabbed my bag, stuffing my journal in it before standing up. Byram didn't budge. Stay cool Ren. No need to get angry.

"There are some things going on, and we're going to take care of it. Simple as that."

That didn't do anything for my argument, unfortunately, as Anna moved to stand beside her husband.

"You are going to fight those things? With someone you barely know? Are you crazy?! I thought you were smarter than this, Ren." Did he really just insult me? Fuck no.

"Yeah, well this _stranger_ is willing to do more to save your home than I've seen you do in the past year! Why the fuck does it matter to you, anyways?!" Oh, we're yelling now. Cool. This really isn't going to end well. Just please don't try to grab me.

Shit. Apparently my yelling set him off, because he did exactly that. Maybe he was trying to push me back into my chair. I don't know. And honestly, I don't care either. So now we're in the same predicament as a year ago. Except, Byram is face down on the ground with my knee digging into his back. Anna was watching us with a strange expression on her face.

I leaned down to his ear, growling out. "You should know better than to try and grab me like that." With that, I stood up, moving to the door.

"Listen, Byram, I don't want to hurt you. So stay the fuck out of my way."

He moved to stop me again, but Anna intercepted him. "Just let her go. You're just going to get hurt if you try to stop her. You know how she is."

I didn't miss the harsh tone she used, so I didn't bother looking back as I caught up with Luffy, who was waiting by the door. Opening the door, I gestured to him to leave first. "Shall we?"

The sun was setting when we made it back to the restaurant. By then, everyone else was inside. They knew better than to come out at night. I honestly didn't care.

We were quiet as we walked. I was still pissed off, and maybe Luffy didn't want to make it worse. I don't know.

Before we reached our destination, I looked at Luffy. "Alright. We're going to be keeping an eye on the house, mostly. I know the perfect spot to do it. We'll wait there until something happens—though, I really hope nothing happens. But I'm trying to be realistic here. The way they were acting earlier proves that they're planning something. When they move, so do we."

He nodded, still uncharacteristically serious. It made me a bit uneasy.

We settled into our hiding spot with ease. There was a patch of bushes and trees across from the Cherise's restaurant and house. It gave the perfect view of both.

Luffy took up humming a random tune to pass the time. It didn't bother me and it kept him occupied, so I saw no need to make him stop.

Apparently he got bored with that, though, because after a while he stopped. I was going to ask him about it, but he interrupted me. "You said the windy-guys can only be hurt by fire. So, what are we gonna do when they show up here?"

Oh, that's right. I forgot to tell him about the last thing I kept in my bag. So I reached in it and pulled out what looked like a small revolver pistol. "This is a flare gun. It only shoots one at a time, but I have plenty of shots to reload it in my bag. The people here have only ever used them for signals, but they are essentially guns that shoot fire. If worse comes to worse, I'll shoot it."

"You have a lot of cool stuff!"

I couldn't help but laugh again. Seriously, how does he manage this perpetual good mood. After that, Luffy went back to humming his weird tune and I settled back down.

Unfortunately, whatever peace we had was lost when we heard a window shattering at the house. Luffy and I shared a look before we both shot up and bolted in the direction of the noise. I could hear Kiba barking at something in that direction. Soon, those sounds were followed by screams. Cherise's screams.

We rounded the corner to find exactly what I had expected. A wendigo. It was in the process of crawling through the window. So I took aim with my flare gun.

Only to be knocked to the side by a strong force. I barely managed to bring up my hands to keep those sharp teeth away from my throat. My gun had been thrown a few feet away when I hit the ground.

Shit! I should've known. _'These bastards_ were _planning something.'_ As much as I pride myself for my physical strength, it was nothing compared to the thing that was on top of me. Just as it was about to claw at my throat, "Gum-gum pistol!"

' _Where'd it go?'_ The wendigo was thrown off me and I saw Luffy glaring at something a few feet away from me. _'Did he…?'_

Another scream knocked me out of my thoughts and I immediately scrambled towards my gun. The commotion outside caused the first wendigo to stop its assault on the people in the house in favor of glaring at us. Perfect.

As soon as I felt my hands wrap around the handle of the flare gun, I took aim and fired at the biggest threat to Serah and Cherise. _'Yep. A gun that shoots fire. It's not a flame thrower, but it'll do."_

The wendigo's screeches were just as loud as I remembered. Eventually it was engulfed in flames and, just like the one a year ago, it collapsed soon after.

I barely had the time to put my hands down before I heard another shout and something get sent flying past me. Then, Luffy was pulling me to my feet. "Are you okay?!"

I nodded, keeping my eyes on the wendigo that he'd knocked away. Just how strong was this guy?!

Still watching the wendigo—which was moving to stand up—I walked over to the window. "Everything alright in there?"

I heard a huge sigh and then saw Cherise out of the corner of my eye. "W-we're fine. Just shocked. Serah and Kiba are in here with me."

I nodded, reaching behind my back into my bag. I needed to reload the flare gun. The wendigo looked like it was going to attack me, before an arm flew by my face and punched it. Did that thing just fucking stretch?

I turned to gawk at Luffy as his arm snapped back to his side. "What the fuck…?"

My gawking was interrupted when I heard the wendigo growling, but before I could reload the gun, it was gone. It ran away.

I relaxed a little, but still kept my eyes out in case it was just trying to flank us. There was a tense silence for a few minutes until Luffy finally spoke up. "You were right. That thing stinks!" He made a show of plugging his nose and pointed at the corpse of the first wendigo on the ground.

I laughed, nodding my head. I would move the body later. It was still on fire.

Of course, with my luck, any celebration would be premature.

The sound of a window smashing drew my attention back inside. Was this a fucking distraction?! Surely they weren't _that_ smart. _'You've got to be_ fucking _kidding me!'_

Before I could climb through the window, a blur ran out of it, past me. And it was carrying something. _'Fuck! Why didn't Cherise say something?! Where's Kiba?!'_

I didn't bother to look. Instead, I started to run after the wendigo that had Serah. The sound of footsteps behind me let me know that Luffy was doing the same.

"What happened?!" I heard him call.

Not looking away from the quickly disappearing form in front of me, I called back, "Those assholes. They distracted us! I didn't know they were this smart. They planned this. It's weird. I've never seen them work together like this."

' _This is the last time I'll underestimate these bastards.'_

Neither of us said anything else as we struggled to keep up with the wendigo ahead of us. However, it has adapted to be a hunter. It was made for hunting. So, I eventually lost sight of it.

"Fuck!" I didn't try to lower my voice.

' _Shit. Shit! I was hoping to stop it before it got back to the caves.'_

"You said they live in caves, right?" Apparently Luffy had the same thing in mind.

"Yeah." I huffed. I still hadn't caught my breath. "I didn't want to, but it looks like we're gonna have to go there. It's…going to be really dangerous. We don't know how many there are, but they all live there. If they're working together, it's going to be that much more difficult."

That didn't seem to faze him. "Let's do it."

And now we're back to running. Only, this time, we're not trying to keep up. We're just trying to make it in time. For me, it just made our task that much more urgent.

It didn't take us long to get to one of the cave entrances. It was pitch black, as can be expected.

' _What am I going to do when it comes to fighting them? I won't be able to use fire in there.'_

Anna had told me that there used to be a mining operation in these caves. For coal or something like that. She had also said that there were certain levels of gas down there, from the coal or whatever.

' _If that's the case, then it's probably methane, which is extremely flammable and even explosive with the right mixture. Back home, methane explosions caused a lot of mining accidents.'_

Once again, I was questioning my luck. Alright, no fire. Not yet, anyway.

My thoughts were broken when Luffy complained, "It's so dark!"

I smiled lightly, though I knew he couldn't see it. "It just means we'll have to navigate with something other than our eyes. Come on."

Serah was my top priority.

Being in the dark slowed our progress considerably. Eventually, I had to lead Luffy by his arm because he kept bumping into the walls or tripping over whatever was on the ground. Maybe there wasn't even anything on the ground. He could've been tripping over his own feet for all I knew.

I was relieved when my eyes finally adjusted and I could stop feeling along the walls to find my way. Granted, I could only see shapes, but it was better than nothing. Of course, following the way my luck was going, that was also when I noticed something coming in our direction. _'Shit.'_

With the goal in mind to make us as small as possible, I pushed Luffy into the wall, making sure to cover his mouth. _'We_ really _don't have the time to be found out.'_

I was close enough to see Luffy's eyes almost bugging out of his head. Seeing him staring at me, I brought a finger to my lips, gesturing for him to keep quiet.

As I did that, I heard the wendigo stop. _'Stay still'_ It paused for a minute—directly behind me—to look around, before turning around and going back in the direction that it came from. We stayed there for a minute before I stepped back.

' _I_ know _that we weren't making any loud noises. What the hell was that thing doing? Don't tell me they're…patrolling? Dammit.'_

On the bright side, it meant we were getting close. Luffy must've been thinking the same thing, because he starting heading down the tunnel in the same direction. So, I followed after him.

We had a few more incidents like that before we came into a cavern. And it was filled with wendigoes. They were all gathered around what I could only assume was Serah.

Before he could do anything, I grabbed Luffy and pulled him out of their field of view. He looked ready to complain, so I covered his mouth again.

"Luffy," I began, keeping my voice low, "I know you want to go in 'guns blazing' and try to get Serah, but we're really outnumbered. As much as you and I both want to go charging in, we won't be able to save Serah that way."

At his upset face, I continued, "But just because we're outnumbered doesn't mean we're outsmarted. So, I need you to listen carefully." He nodded and leaned forward.

* * *

' _Dammit Ren. How many times have I told you to stop playing hero?'_

So, going along with my plan, Luffy was waiting in our hiding spot while I made my way to the other side of the cavern. Sneakily, of course.

I managed to make it around the group of wendigoes to the opposite side. Don't ask me how, 'cause I won't be able to tell you. But it happened. Now comes the next part of my plan. Luffy better go along with it.

Steeling myself, I stood up from crouching behind a rock. I really hated the fact that this was the only plan I could think of. Placing my thumb and finger between my lips, I let out a sharp whistle, making myself the center of attention. Making sure to keep moving to stay in sight, I essentially played decoy.

As they all started towards me, I barely saw Luffy making his way to Serah in the middle of the cavern. _'Good. Now I just have to keep away from them.'_

I was going to be covered in bruises and scrapes later, at least, unless one of them actually gets ahold of me. Compared to this, dealing with that one wendigo a year ago was nothing.

Luffy caught my eye. He had Serah. I smirked, inclining my head to the exit. Then he was gone, there was a wendigo in front of me.

It was just a matter of staying out of reach until Luffy gave me the signal.

It seemed like forever. Jumping back or lunging forward. I had a few close calls, luckily, they seemed to be rather predictable in their attack patterns. Or so I thought.

Stupidly, I let my guard down slightly, and one of them caught me in the side. Ow. It looked decently deep, too. At least, from what I could tell at that moment.

' _Hurry up, Luffy.'_ Back to dodging.

Just as I lunged under an attack, I heard a call, "REN!" Finally.

"Keep going!" I called back.

Now for the countdown.

10.

I was fumbling to get my lighter out of my bag. _'This better fucking work.'_

9.

Okay, got it out. Good.

8.

Dammit. That asshole got me again. In the leg this time.

7.

Fuck. One of them noticed Serah was gone.

6.

"Don't you fucking dare!" Oh hey, turns out that you can cut them. Good thing I brought my throwing knives.

5.

It doesn't look very happy. That's right, fight me, asshole.

4.

Back to dodging. They were getting a lot more aggressive. Bob and weave, or something like that.

3.

This is getting difficult. Good thing the countdown is almost done.

2.

I just hope this works.

1.

' _Well, no going back now.'_ With that thought, I flicked my lighter. And things went to hell. Literally. The whole place erupted in flames. Meanwhile, I was gone.

I dropped to my knees, instinctively covering my face and dropping my lighter.

When I didn't feel any other sources of pain, I looked around. Darkness. I sat back, almost collapsing.

"Shit. That sucked. Never again." I was panting, trying to catch my breath.

Still, I couldn't believe it. My plan worked! I managed to see a bit of the fire before I left. I guess Anna hadn't been lying about the gas. Good. I smiled.

With that, I let myself lie back, wincing slightly at the wound on my side, just below my ribs. It was kind of deep, but at least my bones weren't showing.

Once I'd composed myself, I sat back up, thinking about the predicament that I'd gotten myself in. I couldn't go back to that same spot. It would either still be in flames, or the cave would've collapsed. Either way, I was screwed.

"This is quite a predicament. Hmmm." I sighed and closed my eyes. I probably should've been more upset, but I was too happy that my plan worked.

I wonder if Luffy will be too upset that I didn't make it back. Probably. He kept asking me to join his crew. That doesn't matter, though. All that matters is that we got Serah out.

Really, I just wanted to be outside the cave. At the tree line where I told Luffy to go. But I didn't think it was possible to appear anywhere else.

That's what I thought, anyway. The next thing I knew, I was tackled to the ground by a grinning Luffy. Wait, what?

"How in the hell…?" Trees? No fucking way.

"Ren!" I looked up at Luffy, confused.

"What the hell happened?" There's no way I could've…

Luffy sat back, cocking his head. "I got Serah out and brought her to the tree line like you said. Then the cave exploded. I thought you died! Then you just appeared right here. Like earlier at your house."

Deciding to question it later, I looked around. Serah was lying a few feet away. She looked unconscious. "Is she alright?"

"Yeah. I think she's just passed out."

I moved to get up and my leg gave out. That wound was much deeper than I originally thought. I glared at my leg and Luffy just laughed.

"She's fine. Relax."

So, I settled for pulling some bandages out of my bag. I'd packed them just in case. Beginning to wrap up my leg—my left thigh, to be specific—I looked over at Luffy. "Did you get hurt?"

He shook his head, still grinning. "I'm okay."

Good. Then things went awesomely.

The bleeding on my side had slowed, so I didn't bother with it, instead I decided to get answers out of Luffy.

"So, Luffy," I began, catching his attention. "What exactly are you?"

His grinned widened and he brought a hand up to pull at his cheek. It stretched? Like rubber? "I'm a rubber man!"

Aaaannnd back to staring. At least for a second before I grinned back at him. "That's actually really cool. Devil fruit?"

He nodded his head, a bit more than necessary, and I couldn't help but laugh. "Alright, 'Mr. Pirate King,' you've got yourself a crewmate. I wanna see you go through with your dream."

Oh, great. He's in my face. "REALLY?! AWESOME!" With that, he went about dancing and celebrating. I could only shake my head, smile still in place.

' _I should probably tell him, huh. At least a little bit. I can't tell him everything, but it would be good to not have to act like I have amnesia all the time. The rest can come later.'_

"Luffy," I called him before he could get too into his celebrating. "If I'm going to be a part of your crew, there's something you need to know."

That got his attention and now he was sitting in front of me, crisscrossed. I smirked at him, leaning back on my hands. I looked up at the sky, the sun was going to come up soon.

"I…don't have amnesia. I know where I'm from, and I also know that there's no way for me to go back there. Not that I have any desire to do so."

I looked back down at him, letting my smile drop. "I didn't have a very good life there. Things, people, were harsh. It's why I know so much about cryptids. They were my way of escaping the shitty reality I lived in. So, I'd rather not go back there. Instead, I want to focus on traveling, finding these creatures. Proving that they're real. I know some might not really exist, but I'll never know if I don't look for myself. Right?"

In the end, I was back to smiling. I was over that place. I couldn't go back, and I didn't want to. This world was my home now. And now, I was a part of a pirate crew, even if there were only two of us so far. I…really want to see this kid reach his dreams. And, for some reason, I wholeheartedly believed he eventually would.

Luffy grinned at me. "Right!"

We sat in silence for a while before I heard running footsteps and barking. "Kiba…?"

Sure enough, Kiba ran through the tree line and paused to look around at me before turning to where Serah lay on the ground. He ran to her and was already covering the girl's face with doggy kisses. Well that's going to wake her up.

And it did. Serah looked confused at first. Probably wondering why she was outside. I guess she remembered because she shot up to look around. At that point, I figured it would be a good idea to get up, so I gingerly stood up, making sure to be careful of my leg. Luffy followed my lead.

Kiba, content that his master was okay, trotted his way over to me, tail wagging. I bent down to pat his head, looking up to meet Serah's eyes. Then, I gave her a smile, standing up straight. "I told you I wouldn't let them hurt you."

I would've continued, if it hadn't been for the small pair of arms that wrapped themselves around my hips. Smiling, I leaned down again to be eye level with her. "Careful, Serah, I don't want to get you dirty."

At this point, not only did I have dirt all over, I was also covered in my own blood.

Serah looked up at me, tears falling down her cheeks. "You got hurt because of me."

"Nah, I got hurt because I got distracted. It was after you were gone. Plus, it doesn't even hurt that bad." I shrugged. I'd had worse.

She didn't look convinced. I would've tried more to convince her, but I was interrupted again by footsteps. Being as paranoid as I am, my hand went to my bag. I still had the flare gun and several shots left.

No one ever came outside until the sun had risen and at that moment, the sky was only just getting lit up by the rising sun.

Apparently my paranoia was for nothing because Cherise ran through the tree line, followed by Byram. As I expected, Cherise immediately ran to her daughter, tears streaming down her face. Byram followed at a slower pace and approached me.

"You look like hell." He was looking over my injuries. To prevent myself from laughing—it sent a sharp pain through my side every time I did—I gave the biggest shit-eating grin I could muster.

In all honesty, though, I was glad he was treating me normally. I figured he'd be pissed that I manhandled him. It seemed like that wasn't the case, thankfully.

Before I could do anything else, I was staring at the ground, gasping at a sudden pain in my side. Byram had thrown me over his shoulder. Like a fucking sack of potatoes. Asshole.

"Ow! Fuck. Byram, put me down, you prick!" From the looks of it, we were heading into town.

"No can do. You're injured. Plus, you've lost a lot of blood."

"Y'know, for a doctor, you sure have a knack for aggravating your patient's injuries." Seriously, I was pretty sure my side had started bleeding again.

Hearing laughter, I pushed my hands against Byram's back and lifted my head to see Luffy cracking up, holding his stomach. "Dammit, Luffy, stop laughing! You're supposed to be my captain, right?! Help!" If anything, that just made him laugh even harder.

' _I ought to kick his ass.'_ Resigned to my fate, I shifted so most of my weight was put on my good side.

Surprisingly, it didn't take that long to get back into town. _'It took a hell of a lot longer than this to get to those caves.'_ That sucked. Maybe it was the adrenaline—or the anticipation. Who knows?

By the time we got to the clinic, Anna had prepared—probably over prepared—Byram's office for us. I could hear her sigh, at our position when we got inside. Had she really expected anything else? Her lack of faith astounds me. When I voiced that, she just sighed again, and I imagined she shook her head as well.

Byram carried me all the way down the hall to his office and carefully set me down on the table. Giving him a small smirk, I folded one arm—the one on my good side—behind my head. "I'm just gonna sleep, 'kay? I was up all night. Don't do anything inappropriate." Then I shot him a wink, and heard Anna giggling in the hall.

Byram gave me a dry look and I closed my eyes, hearing Luffy, Cherise, and Serah come into the clinic, followed by the ever present Kiba. "Just sleep." Byram said and then I was out.

* * *

I woke up what was probably a few hours later. I was in my bed and it was unusually quiet.

' _Strange, usually around this time, we have a few people come through.'_ Granted, I didn't know exactly what time it was, but still. I slowly got up. Moving to the door to see where everyone was, I noticed that the pain had dulled. I was in a loose t-shirt and a pair of shorts, but I could still see dried blood and dirt in various places.

"Man, I feel like a shower would do wonders." So, I decided that, after I figured out what the hell was going on, I'd take a nice long shower.

When I opened the door, I was met face-to-chest with Byram. Seriously, that guy was huge. He just blinked at me for a second before realizing that I was walking around on my leg. I couldn't help the sheepish smile as his eyes narrowed.

"What are you doing up?"

Putting my hands up in a placating manner, I said, "It was really quiet. I wanted to know what's going on. Besides, my leg doesn't even hurt."

He just sighed, shaking his head and pointing to my bed. I pouted and turned around. I guess the shower will have to wait.

As he watched me get settled back on my bed, he spoke, "Regardless of whether or not it hurts now, it's still a serious injury. The wound was pretty deep. You need to be careful walking around. It's going to scar." He added that last bit as an afterthought and then stopped, knowing my reaction.

"Yessss. Now I'm gonna look even more badass."

Byram let out a snort of laughter at my words, his eyes filled with amusement. Then, he turned serious, moving to sit in my chair. "So, you're going with him?"

I guess Luffy told them. That's fine. It saved me the trouble of doing it myself. I gave him a small smile, nodding.

"The boy, he has a great dream—seemingly impossible, mind you—but great nonetheless. I want to see him accomplish that great feat. I wholly believe that he will. Maybe it's intuition. Who knows?" I paused to shrug, glancing my hands lying in my lap.

"Not only that, I want to see the world. I want to find those unknown creatures. Dealing with the wendigoes has made me want to see what else I can find in the world. There's so much for me to discover. Besides, I think I've done all that I can here. The wendigoes shouldn't be a problem for you all anymore."

If I wasn't sure that the problem was dealt with, I wouldn't have agreed to go with Luffy. Something told me that Byram understood that. He was quiet for a minute after I stopped speaking.

Then, he said, "It's going to be dangerous, and difficult."

I couldn't help but scoff. "I just blew up a cave full of wendigoes while I was still inside. I think I can handle dangerous. Plus, this is life. When isn't it difficult? At least I'm not going to be alone."

Byram stared at me for a second, as if he was looking for something. I don't know if he found it, but eventually he sighed, standing up.

"This past year has been weird. A girl washes up on our beach, comes to work with me and manages to take care of our monster problem. Now, this girl who has become a good friend, wants to leave. She wants to reach her goal, no matter how crazy it sounds. Who am I to stop her?"

I could cry. I was expecting much more opposition from him. I smiled at him, a completely genuine, non-sarcastic smile.

Before I could say anything, I heard the door to the clinic slam open. "Ren! Are you awake yet?"

I just snickered, hearing Luffy's footsteps come down the hallway. Someone was with him and I could only assume it was Serah. "Yeah," I called, "I'm up. Byram won't let me out of bed, though."

As I finished that sentence, my door opened. Luffy looked like he'd gotten cleaned up, and he seemed to be in a good mood, which didn't surprise me at all. As I expected, Serah was behind him, smiling at me.

Byram mocked hurt, saying, "You're injured. You shouldn't be up and around anyway." I just rolled my eyes at him, grinning up at the new additions to the room.

Serah came and jumped on my bed, throwing her arms around my shoulders in a hug. Luffy followed after her, sitting down crisscrossed at the foot of the bed. "Are you feeling better?" He asked, grin never leaving his face.

I nodded hugging Serah back before pulling away. "Yeah, I feel a hel- heck of a lot better. What would be much better is if Byram would let me up so I can take a shower. I don't much like being covered in dirt and blood. Then, I could go for some food." I looked at Byram pointedly.

He just gave me a dry look before sighing yet again. "Fine, let me check your leg and side and after that you can get cleaned up and go see Cherise. She's been worried about you."

' _Yes! Shower here I come.'_ I set Serah beside Luffy and shifted so he could look at my leg.

While Byram was examining my wounds, I listened to Serah and Luffy talking. They were talking about food, which didn't surprise me in the slightest. I also found out that I'd been asleep for a few hours. It was now the afternoon.

* * *

When all was said and done, I'd had a nice long shower and changed into a pair of clean clothes. They were similar to the clothes I wore yesterday, except my shirt was white and my vest was a dark blue color. These were the clothes Ava gave me in the bag originally.

Luffy and Serah were waiting for me in the living room. When I looked around for Byram, Serah said, "Miss Mae came in with her husband. His back gave out or something. Byram said to go ahead."

I made an 'oh' sound, nodding. "Okay, then. Shall we?" I made to go outside, calling out, "Be back later!"

"Don't stress your leg!" I heard back. Miss Mae's husband must be pretty bad if Byram didn't come to see me off. He usually at least stuck his head out the doorway.

With that, we went outside and headed towards Cherise's restaurant. While we walked, Serah asked, "So you guys are gonna leave soon, right?"

Luffy and I nodded. "Yep. I was thinking tomorrow. Sound alright to you, Luffy?"

"Yeah. That's cool." He grinned at me.

That seemed to put an end to that conversation, because after that, they went straight back to talking about food. That was the main topic of conversation until we reached the restaurant. _'Jeez, you'd think they would get tired of talking about food.'_ I couldn't help but roll my eyes. What a couple of dorks.

Eventually we got to the restaurant. As soon as I walked inside, I was greeted by Cherise and Anna. They both were concerned to see me up and around on my leg.

After we ate, Serah got pulled away by her mother to do chores and Luffy and I were left alone. I'd told him that I wanted to set out early in the morning. It would be easier that way. He didn't have any complaints. Now all that was left was to prepare.

Later that night, I was packing my bag—which, I might add, seems to hold just about everything I need, another thing I can attribute to Ava—I heard something behind me.

I jumped lightly and whirled around. It was Ava, smiling. She held her hands up. "It's just me. I decided to come for a visit."

I dropped my hand from where I had reached for my weapon, rolling my eyes. "Please, you've probably been watching me."

She laughed lightly, neither confirming nor denying my accusation. She sat on my desk chair, looking me over. "You seem well. You also seem to be scheming."

I shot her a smile, sitting on the edge of my bed. "I've never been good with good-byes. I figure it'd be easier to leave while they are all asleep. I'll leave a note."

She looked like she wanted to say something, but decided to change the subject. "So, did this island meet your expectations? I told you there would be monsters."

Biting my tongue to keep from correcting her—mainly because the wendigoes could rightfully be classified as "monsters"—I smirked. "It was pretty exciting. Hopefully, I'll see more like it in my travels. By the way, I blame you."

Her smile widened. "What do you mean?"

"You knew I would get caught up in all this." It wasn't a question.

"I have no idea what you mean."

"Yeah, okay." I said sending her a dry look.

She just gave a small laugh before turning serious. "There is another reason for my visit."

This doesn't sound good. I didn't like the expression on her face. "What is it?"

"I was told earlier today that there is a possibility that Vahn is in this world. I don't know that he knows you're here, but I figured I should let you know to be careful. If he doesn't know that you're living here and he finds you still alive, even I don't know how he'll react. My brother has always been unpredictable, but there can be a method to his madness. If he sees you, that may be the final straw, so to speak. I just want you to be prepared."

Well shit. And here I'd been hoping things would be fine from now on. I let out an aggravated sigh, running my left hand through my hair.

"Relax Ren. I said it was just a possibility. For all we know, he could be somewhere else."

"Ava, knowing my luck, I'm gonna run into him. You and I both know that. Especially if he finds out that I'm alive here. Even if he doesn't know it, he's always complicating my life." There goes my good mood.

She gave me a light smile. "It will be alright. You know I'm just a call away. I'm always listening. If something happens and you think he might be around, just call for me."

Sighing, I said, "I know. Even so, this just makes things more complicated in the long run."

Her smile never left as she stood up. "I'm glad to see you're doing well, Ren. You're even part of a pirate crew now! No matter how small it is now."

I stood up as she walked to me. Then she gave me a hug, like the last time I saw her. "As much as I would like to stay and talk longer, I have a few girls with a house full of ninjas to deal with. I'll be in touch. Remember, just call for me."

With that, she was gone. I was left to finish packing and sort through my thoughts. _'Why do I have such bad luck? Things were going well. Now, I get news that I'll probably run into Vahn, the asshole who ruined my other life and killed me. He better not mess with this life.'_

* * *

The sun had yet to rise when I snuck out of my room and across the hall to where Luffy was staying. Byram and Anna had let him use the spare room for the night.

Even if I hadn't known which room he was in, it wouldn't have been that hard to find him. His snoring was way too loud to miss. It was like someone had a buzz saw going. Once he was awake, it was just a matter of getting outside. However, as my luck would have it—and probably with a little help from Luffy—Byram and Anna were awake. It turns out that Luffy didn't think it would be a good idea for me to leave without saying goodbye. What an ass.

I just shot him a look as Byram and Anna stood in front of us with their arms crossed. "You couldn't have let me do this the easy way." He grinned at me in reply.

Anna and Byram didn't look too happy about my attempts of sneaking out. I sighed, hanging my head. "I'm not good with saying goodbye, okay?"

Before I could say anything else Anna had pulled me into a hug. "We know. But we wanted to see you off. So do Serah and Cherise. They're waiting for us at the docks."

I took the time to send Luffy another look. Tell the whole town why don't you?

After that, we met Serah and Cherise—and Kiba, of course—at the docks. Serah was rubbing her eyes, looking more than a little tired. Poor thing. Luffy left us to get his little boat ready, and probably to let me say goodbye.

Cherise gave me the same look that I'd gotten from Anna and Byram before pulling me into a hug as well. "The least you could do is let us see you off. We would have been really upset if Luffy hadn't told us." I gave her a smirk. She squeezed me once more, whispering "Thank you," before letting go.

After her was Serah, who gave me her regular hug, wrapping her arms around my hips until I knelt down to hug her properly. While I was stooped, Kiba also took the time to smother me with affection. See? Death by fluff. It was possible with this dog. Serah looked too tired to say anything, but she smiled at me.

When I stood up, I was hugged again by Anna. "We're going to miss you, you know. It's going to be weird to not hear bickering coming from the office every day." I snickered, hugging her back.

She pulled away after a second, moving so I could see Byram. He'd been quiet this entire time and, for once, I couldn't read his expression. Partially to make myself feel better, and just because I could, I gave him a big shit-eating grin, the one I always gave him during our bickering.

I didn't expect him to hug me too. But that's exactly what he did. "Be careful out there." He told me when I hugged him back. I nodded, completely serious.

I hated goodbyes. That's why I originally wanted to sneak out. I knew I would miss these people, even if it was just the little group that was standing around me.

Pulling away from Byram, I stepped back, speaking for the first time since we arrived at the docks.

"Back home," I started, addressing everyone, "I got used to people looking down on me or looking at me with pity, judging me for something I couldn't change. So, thank you for treating me like an actual person, and stuff, even though I can be a pain in the ass." After I stopped talking, I shrugged lightly, giving a small, genuine smile.

Byram and Anna, for their credit, didn't look surprised that I remembered my home. I kind of figured they knew all along.

With that, I got into the boat. Luffy had gotten it ready to leave, so that's what we did. The others were left waving at us on the dock. Luffy and I waved back until they were out of sight.

When I couldn't see Agnostos anymore, I turned around and relaxed against the side of the boat. Shooting a smirk at my new captain, I asked, "So, where to now?"

He shrugged. "Dunno. We're gonna get more crew members, though!"

It was at that moment that I almost regretted my decision to join his crew. "You don't know how to navigate, do you?" He shook his head, grin ever present. Palm, meet forehead. _'What have I gotten myself into?'_

"Great. Let's just hope we don't get caught in a storm or something."


	5. Chapter 4: Ocean Adventure

**_Starting out with an author's not 'cause why not. First of all I'm really sorry that it's taken me so long to get this chapter out. Various health problems and school stuff has made it hard. I'm almost done with school, though, so I'll have a lot more time to write between doctor's appointments. Also, thanks for reviewing and stuff. It makes me happy. :) As for the question of whether or not this will be a romance, that is yet to be decided. But it won't be a LuffyxOC thing. I'm thinking more Sanji or Zoro. But like I said, it's still to be decided._**

 ** _Again, sorry about the long gap between chapters._**

 ** _Also, I don't own One Piece or any of it's characters. The only things I own are Ren, Ava, Vahn, and the island and people of Agnostos._**

* * *

 _'You have got to be_ fucking _kidding me!'_ This seemed to be a recurring thought of mine of late. Or rather, since a certain deity—who shall remain nameless—entered my life.

'What is it this time, Ren?' You ask. 'It can't be as bad as fighting mutant cannibals.' Wrong! Partially.

See, I was just minding my business, writing in my journal, updating what was written about wendigoes, making a few rough sketches. I'd mistakenly left Luffy in charge of our destination. I thought he would at least be able to keep us from crashing into random rocks or something. However, it seems I hugely overestimated his sailing and navigational abilities. A big mistake on my part. One that will never happen again, I assure you.

He got us caught in a _fucking_ whirlpool. That's right, a huge fucking whirlpool, and he managed to get us caught in it. Once again I find myself putting the blame on Ava, mostly because she wasn't there to defend herself.

Luffy just leaned against the barrel in our little boat, with that huge, carefree grin still in place. He had the oar propped against his shoulder while he spoke. "Ah! The weather is pretty nice today. On a nice day like this, who would've thought we'd get into such a disaster?!"

"Luffy, what were you doing to get us in this mess?" I could feel my eye twitching. He just shrugged and I could barely stop myself from facepalming. There would be plenty of time to do that later. Dammit.

I looked around, hoping that maybe there was a ship near that could help us. No such luck, though. I sighed dejectedly, my hand propped on my hip. "There's no one around, though a part of me doubts we'd get help even if there was someone."

Luffy finally stopped smiling to look around. "It'll be bad if the boat wrecks. On top of that, I can't even swim."

I couldn't help but scoff. "Luffy, I think in this situation, it doesn't really matter whether or not you can swim."

He laughed and nodded. "I guess you're right!"

 _'Ren, what have you gotten yourself into?'_ Just then, inspiration struck. There just so happened to be an empty barrel sitting behind Luffy. Our boat was rocking unsteadily, getting ever closer to the center of the whirlpool and wrecking.

"Looks like I'm going to be swimming again." I muttered, turned to Luffy. "Get in the barrel." He agreed easily enough. Good to know he trusts me.

It wasn't until I was going to close it after him that he asked why. "You can't swim, remember? The barrel will keep you from drowning and, hopefully, you'll wash up on an island safely."

"What about you?" He cocked his head to the side.

"There's no way I'll fit in there with you. I'll just go swimming."

Just before I finished sealing him in the barrel, he grabbed my wrist. "We'll meet up later!"

I just grinned at him. "'Course. Don't think you can get rid of me this easily. I'll see you later, Captain."

To further surprise him, I then picked up the barrel. I heard him yell inside. "Please. I worked with Byram for a year. There were plenty of people who needed to be carried back to the clinic." Sure, Luffy was heavy, but I'd carried, and thrown, heavier. And throwing was exactly what I was going to do.

The barrel would keep him from drowning, but if the boat was going to wreck, odds are, the barrel wouldn't make it, at least not if they were close together. With that in mind, I threw the barrel containing my captain in the water a few feet away, just far enough that it wouldn't knock against the boat. It was also pretty close to the outer rim of the whirlpool.

After that was done, I made sure my bag was closed, hopefully what Ava did last time I was in the water stuck. I'd hate to lose my stuff.

"Now, how far of a jump should it be?" Judging distance was always something I was pretty good at. Of course, it was a bit more difficult when I was moving and rocking harshly.

The boat was mid way to the center of the whirlpool, but it was moving fast. _'I've only got one chance. There.'_ The waves knocked our boat back a bit, so I took a running—as much as I could in our small boat—jump. I managed to hit the water closer to the outside of the whirlpool. _'This is fucking suicide.'_

Of course, so was waiting in the boat for it to reach the center. So, I figured that I could at least try to get under the current. I remember reading somewhere that whirlpools are created by converging currents. But there was sometimes a smoother current farther down. That's what I was going for.

It felt like I was fighting the current for hours, kicking my feet and moving my arms. In the end, my plan worked. I reached a smoother current and followed it, as much as I could until the burning in my lungs was too much. When I broke through the water, I could still see the whirlpool a good 100 yards away. I could also barely make out the dark spot of Luffy's barrel almost on the other side.

Sucking in the much needed oxygen, I took a minute to assess my situation. My leg and side were burning from the salt water in my wounds. Byram would kick my ass if he saw me right now. My limbs were tired from fighting the current. My bag was still securely on my back. I wasn't going to check the stuff inside until I was out of the water.

I let out a sigh. "Fuck. Okay. I need to get out of the water somehow. Island, maybe a boat." I struggled to keep above water and looked around. Nothing. There was nothing around me but open water and that whirlpool that seemed to be getting farther away.

Then I got an idea. Maybe... Darkness. There we go. I was out of the water for a little bit. It gave me time to think things over.

"Alright Ren. Don't let any childhood fears paralyze you. Calm down. Treading open water isn't really a good idea. It'll just tire me out even more. So will swimming an a random direction. I know when people get lost in forests and on mountains, they're told to stay in one place. Is it the same for water? I really hope a sea king doesn't decide to attack me."

My thoughts were all over the place. I really hadn't thought this through. I could always try that teleporting thing, but where would I go? Plus I wasn't even sure if I could control that just yet. I never liked trying things until I had a chance to test them. I never had a chance to test the teleporting. I was going to do it after my wounds healed, just in case. That means that was out of the question.

 _'Alright. What did Anna say about this?'_ Anna had taken it upon herself to tell me what to do if I was caught in the ocean, to avoid drowning. She figured it was necessary after how I arrived to the island. I sat for a minute, straining my brain for the memory.

 _'Oh, right! Our bodies float on their own. Lay on your back and focus on keeping your head above water.'_ Okay, let's try that. Back to the ocean. I did just what she'd told me, bringing my body up like I was lying down. It was really uncomfortable, but it seemed to be working, I didn't start sinking.

Now all I had to do was focus on not sinking, as well as controlling any anxiety about being in open water, alone, without a boat. I already knew that Sea Kings were a thing. I couldn't help but wonder if there were more sea creatures under the water.

Now that I knew that wendigoes existed in this world, the possibility of other cryptids was raised almost infinitely. Also, back home, there were more than enough myths and legends about sea creatures. Do megalodons exist in this world? _Fuck. That._

* * *

I lost track of how long I was floating there. All I knew was that I was starting to get extremely thirsty. The sun was high in the sky beating down on me, even though I was surrounded by water. I had gotten so used to the sounds around me that when there was something new, it really stuck out.

I was just floating there, pissed off at my neck for being so sore already—and at everything else, really—and I heard something new. Was that...yelling? I jerked at the new sound and ended up under water. By the time I had righted myself, I could see a ship approaching. Fucking finally.

I didn't even care who it was. It looked like they were coming in my direction and they saw me. I'd deal with whatever else later. I was going to get out of the open water.

There was a lot of movement on the deck and I could see a few of them pointing at me while yelling to someone else. As the boat came closer, someone jumped overboard and made their way towards me. As they got closer, I noticed it was a man, a few years older than me.

And people say chivalry is dead.

After a bit of struggling in the water, I was safely on board a very generic-looking pirate ship. The only thing that stood out was its jolly roger. It had the typical skull and crossbones, except the skull's teeth were sharpened to a point and it had some kind of goatee thing going on. Don't ask me why the skull had a goatee. It was probably made in the likeness of it's captain.

Sure enough, a rather tall man sporting a goatee made his way through the crowd of pirates that had surrounded us. When he opened his mouth to speak, he also had the sharp teeth that I noticed on the jolly roger. "Are ye alright miss?" Aw cool, he had a bit of an accent going on. But something did seem off about him.

Seeing as these pirates helped me, I saw no reason to be rude, so I just nodded. "I'm much better now. Thank you. I thought something was going to come up and eat me before anyone showed up." As I spoke, I felt eyes on me, which was completely reasonable—considering they just pulled me up from floating around in the ocean—but I still didn't like the feeling.

The captain threw his head back and let out a loud off-sounding laugh. "There's very little that would eat people in this ocean. We're in the East Blue, after all, Miss..."

"Ren. My name's Ren. And, even so, there's still always the possibility."

He just chuckled at me. "Well, Miss Ren, welcome aboard my ship." After that he eyed me, making me even more uncomfortable, before his eyes grew big and he gasped.

"What happened to you?!"

It was only when I looked down that I realized what he was talking about. Turns out that the sea water had aggravated my wounds and they started bleeding again. Awesome...

Before I could open my mouth to answer, I was pulled away by the captain saying that we were going to see their ship's doctor. All I saw for the next couple of minutes was a blur of doors and walls until we stopped inside some kind of doctor's office.

There was a man sitting at the desk. As soon as he saw me, I was pulled away again so he could examine my wounds. ' _I feel like I'm getting whiplash._ '

After all was said and done, I was re-bandaged and in a clean pair of clothes. The captain had pulled me to his quarters to "talk." Yeah, like I'd believe that bullshit. I made sure to keep a hand on my hip, near my dagger, just in case. I was sitting in a chair across from his desk.

"You were very lucky we found you when we did, Miss Ren. One of my men said that there was a whirlpool somewhere in the distance. I'd hate for you to get caught up in it." He was sitting in a chair in front of me.

I couldn't help but let out a little laugh. "I know. How do you think I got stuck in the middle of the ocean without so much as a dinghy? My friend isn't very good about looking out for things and we got caught in it."

A strange light shone in his eyes. "A friend? What happened to your friend?"

I shrugged. "We got separated, after agreeing to meet up later. He probably washed up on an island nearby."

The look in his eyes fell when I said "he." ' _Wow. I know what this guy's thinking about._ '

His expression changed again and he stood up. "Well, I sure wouldn't mind taking you to meet your friend. That is, if you'd like."

He slowly walked around his desk to stand in front of me.

' _Alright Ren, put your acting skills to work._ ' I widened my eyes and looked up at him with a fake hopeful smile. "Really?! You would do that for me?"

He pulled a fake smile and leaned forward. "Of course. We can't just leave ye with nowhere to go."

After that he walked around the back of my chair. The hair on the back of my neck rose. "Of course, there is a matter of payment."

I could barely keep my expression steady as I pulled a confused face. "I'm sorry. I don't think I have a lot of money."

I nearly jumped out of my chair when he put his hand on my shoulder. ' _Fucking asshole._ '

"I'm sure we can work something else out."

I tilted my head to the side, still pulling the oblivious facade. "I'm sorry. I don't really understand."

He paused for a second and I heard him chuckle, never taking his hand off my shoulder. Then he leaned down to talk right into my ear. "You are very pretty, Miss Ren. I'm sure you could do something to pay us back."

' _That's it._ ' With that I stood up, putting some distance between us. "I'm sorry. I don't think I could help you with _that._ "

His expression changed again to one that I knew well. This was a man who was used to getting what he wanted, at any cost. "I wasn't asking." Then he stepped toward me.

Unfortunately, in my attempt to put space behind us, I had backed into his desk. So I could only watch as he walked closer to me. My eye twitched with every step he took. ' _Who the hell does he think he is? Acting like he's some big important guy._ ' He didn't stop until he was right in my face.

' _Okay...Now!'_ When he moved to touch me, I grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back at a painful angle. I heard his shoulder pop from the stress before reaching behind my belt to grab my weapon.

I angled the small pole and pressed the button on the side to extend the blades. Blades shot out on either end and one end was aimed so that the blade was millimeters from cutting into his face, right in front of his eyes. Apparently I had caused enough noise to warrant some of his crew members to bust through the door. As soon as they saw their captain they charged at me.

Keeping the captain pinned, I kicked off the ground to kneel on the desk, switching my arms to a more comfortable position holding the captain in one place. Removing my hand from my weapon's handle, I reached into my ever-present pouch and threw some of my throwing knives. Then, grabbing my dagger, I stabbed it into the captain's hand. He had been reaching for something in his desk. And, just to spite him, I twisted his arm even more until I heard a snap. Hearing their captain cry out, any other members of the crew paused in their attempt through the door.

Seeing that no one was going to attack me, I let go of his arm and grabbed my sword, pulling it from it's place lodged in his desk. "I'm going to say this once. Since your captain so kindly offered, you all are going to take me to the nearest island with a port. Any opposition will be met with loss of limbs and/or valuable body parts." At that, those who were capable winced and covered themselves.

"Until we get there, I'll be watching you all like a hawk. If you try to trick me, I'll kill you. If you try to attack me, I'll kill you. And if ANY of you try what your captain just did, you'll wish you were dead. Am I clear?" When they nodded, I pointed to the door. "Get on with it then."

A few of them shot worried/scared looks back at their captain and I before they all rushed to their positions on deck. After waiting for them all to leave, I turned to the captain, who was glaring at me. I just sent him a smug smirk before harshly jerking my dagger out of his hand. He let out another little cry of pain before slowly sinking to the floor. I knelt down, using his jacket to clean off my dagger and putting away my sword. "So, have you learned your lesson yet?"

He just shot me another glare before muttering, "Bitch."

* * *

After a bit, I came on deck. They seemed to be following my orders, so I just sat in the background watching them work. After all, I had to make sure none of them were going to get their captain. They wouldn't find him until I was off the ship. He was still alive, I just hit him a few times and knocked him out. Then I hid him somewhere on the ship, tied up of course.

I noticed a few of them shooting me some questioning looks, but I ignored them in favor of making sure none of them were going to jump me.

After two or so hours of tense sailing, one of the crew climbed down from the crow's nest and slowly approached me. "M-miss Ren, we're coming up on an island. It seems to be a marine base island."

I just nodded. "That'll do. Just as long as there's a dock."

Some of the soldiers stopped working to gawk at me. "But we're pirates! Do you know what they'll do to pirates who have the nerve to dock on their island?!"

I just sighed. "If I have no idea who the hell you all are, then I doubt the marines will think twice about you all. And if they found out your captain was beat by a single woman, what would that say about your crew?"

When none of them responded, I said, "That's where you're taking me."

After that, I watched the island get closer, making sure to keep an eye on the pirates as well. For some reason, I knew that's where I would meet up with Luffy again. However, there was also something in the pit of my stomach that told me that trouble would follow him.

It wasn't long until we docked and I was able to get on solid land again. After I stepped off the ship, I turned and gave the crew a cocky smile. "Thanks for bringing me! Oh, and good luck finding your captain." With that I started into the town, leaving the panicking pirates behind me.

There was only more panicking in town. Townspeople were running around terrified. Yep. Luffy's been here.

I managed to catch one person before they ran for the hills. "Excuse me. I don't mean to interrupt your panicking but I'm looking for someone. He's a couple inches shorter than me. Black hair, straw hat. Has a perpetual grin. Trouble usually follows him. Have you seen him?"

If anything, my question only freaked the man out even more. "That kid's gonna get us killed! He punched Helmeppo-sama! Marine Captain Morgan will have our heads! He ran to the marine base, now leave me be!" With that he jerked his arm out of my grip and ran inside what I assumed was his house.

Great...Trouble with the marines. That's all we need. I started walking in the direction of the very obvious marine base until I heard a gunshot. Then I broke out into a sprint. Sure, Luffy was rubber, but he seems to bring other people into his shenanigans. _That's_ what I was worried about. My worry only increased when, a minute or so later, I heard more gunshots all at one time.

I ran along the outside of the wall until I got to where I assumed the fighting was taking place. When I climbed up the wall I found out my assumption was correct. Luffy was standing in the middle of a clearing in front of two others. One was a short, pink-haired boy, lying on the ground with blood coming from his shoulder. The other was rather tall, wearing a bandanna and he was tied to some kind of cross/plus made out of logs. They were all staring at a group of marines lead by who I figured was "Captain Morgan." The man was about Byram's size. His jaw seemed to be made of metal and he had an axe for a hand.

That wasn't the weirdest part about this standoff, however. The weirdest part—to me—was the fact that someone let Luffy run around with three katanas. He was laughing and I assumed he just bounced back a bunch of bullets.

He seemed to have it handled at the moment so I figured I'd just sit back and watch for a bit. Luffy turned to talk to the guy tied to the post. Someone shouted about being an outlaw to the marines. Then Luffy started trying, dumbly, untie the knots on the guy's arms, rather than cutting them with the katanas. His stupidity was showing at the worst possible time too, because two groups of marines were converging on them from either side. I let out a heavy sigh. And here I thought I'd get to relax for a bit. Nope. Luffy brings trouble wherever he goes apparently.

I dropped down from my seat on the wall to intercept the closest group of marines, running past the pink-haired boy who'd finally woken up. While I was running, I pulled out my weapon. When I got to my destination, I managed to catch the marines swords before they could fall on the boy, who seemed terrified. Not even struggling with the weight of their swords I looked at the marines. "Sorry boys. I can't let you hurt my captain. Or his friends."

They just stared at me. Probably wondering where the hell I came from. I really wasn't trying to be discreet about watching them earlier. I'd figured someone would've noticed me.

Figuring I'd had enough of the staring contest, I loosened my grip on my sword, making them lose their balance and fall forward, only to be met with my boot. When I knocked them down I turned to the kid I'd been protecting. Kneeling down, I greeted him. "Hi. You're a friend of Luffy's right? I'm Ren. Sorry if he's put you through some trouble."

He just stared at me and I gave him a small smile. I looked over when I heard Luffy yell "Gum-gum whip!" And just managed to see him sending a bunch of marines back toward their captain. Then, when asked what he was, he replied "I'm a rubber man!"

Sighing, I pressed the button on my sword and watched the blades retract before putting it back in its place on my belt. Luffy must've heard me, because I almost got tackled by a mass of rubber kid. "Ren! You made it just in time! Just what I expected from my first crew mate!" Great, now I'm the center of attention, at least from those in hearing range. I gave Luffy an exasperated smile. "Luffy, how did you manage to get yourself into this much trouble? I didn't think we'd have to deal with the marines so soon."

"Aw come on. They're nothing compared to the windy-guys! And you killed all of _them._ " Of course, no one other than Luffy and I knew what he was talking about, so we got a lot of confused looks.

I made to say some sarcastic comment but I was cut off when I heard the marine captain order his men to shoot themselves. I was going to kick their asses for trying to follow their orders but Luffy jumped in and threw a punch at the captain. That successfully stopped any and all attempts of suicide from the marines.

"Luffy! Defeat these marines!" The kid yelled from beside me.

So, Luffy faced off with the marine captain. As is to be expected. So, I figured he could take care of it. The kid punched a wendigo. A human shouldn't be that big of a problem.

Mr. Swordsman must have noticed my lack of worry/anxiety, because he turned to me with what I could assume was a furrowed eyebrow. "Aren't you worried? He's your captain isn't he?"

I shot the man a smirk and said, "From what I heard, he's yours now too. If your shouting earlier is anything to go by. Aren't _you_ worried?"

He just shot me a look so I let out a small laugh and explained, "I've seen Luffy fight legitimate monsters. That asshole's nothing compared to them."

Sure enough, Luffy was now standing above the marine captain trying to bash his face in. Of course, someone had to interrupt the fun, which sucked. It instantly ruined my good mood, too. Some onion-headed guy was pointing a gun at the pink-haired kid's head.

Now, anyone who knows me knows that there are certain things that make me literally want to kill someone. One of those things was people like that asshat pirate captain from earlier. The only reason I didn't kill him was because I needed leverage. _Another_ thing that really sets me off is people who threaten/bully/abuse unarmed, weaker people. So, of course my good mood had vanished.

"Are you fucking serious?!" Onion-dude chose to ignore me in favor of threatening Luffy. Wrong move.

So, it turns out that teleporting is actually something that I can do. More on that later though. I was thoroughly pissed off. I was gonna kick that guy's ass.

I disappeared from my original spot by the swordsman and was instantly behind Asshole. Oh, he was gonna get it. Luffy grinned at me, standing up. Pink kid was shouting words of wisdom at Luffy. Something like he wasn't afraid to die. I wasn't paying that much attention. Luffy kept the grin on his face, though.

Before anyone could react, I grabbed Asshole's wrist, twisting it at an awkward angle, making him drop the gun. When he turned to look, I glared. "Who the _hell_ do you think you are?" I growled out, putting pressure on his already-hurting wrist. He opened his mouth, probably to spout some holier-than-thou bullshit, but I cut him off, by punching him. I let go of his wrist in time to send him back a few feet.

There was some commotion near Luffy, but I wasn't paying attention. Onion-dude was scrambling to stand up, blubbering about "my dad'll kill you!" or something. I just narrowed my eyes and took my time walking towards him. Gotta instill fear in my enemies and all that. He sure did look afraid. Good.

When I got within arm's reach he had backed into the wall. I grabbed him by his collar. "Shut the fuck up!" I said, reaching one of my hands back to get my weapon out again. I brought the pole up and pressed the button. The blades shot out and one just barely cut his cheek before embedding itself into the wall. "Or do I have to make you?"

He just whimpered pathetically. I brought my knee up and hit him in the stomach, effectively knocking him out. I dropped him, putting my weapon back in it's place. "What a piece of shit."

I turned around to see Luffy still grinning at me. "Haha! You really scared him!"

I just sighed, giving him a small smirk. "Good, maybe he'll know not to be an asshole from now on."

The marines were celebrating their captain's loss, which was kind of weird, but to each their own I guess. We weren't really paying attention to them anymore because our new crew mate suddenly collapsed. "What the-?" I started out.

I later found out that it was because of hunger that he collapsed. I also learned his name, Zoro and that he had green hair, which was odd. I learned pink kid's name too, Koby.

We dragged our half conscious crew mate back into town and a woman and her daughter offered to feed us. I ate a little before sitting back to enjoy the spectacle that is Luffy eating. Everything was going pretty good. Koby got his arm patched up from where he'd been shot. (That's what the first gunshot was.)

Luffy was still munching away when Zoro pulled a serious face and asked, "What are your plans next?'

Luffy, without missing a beat, of course answered, "I'm gong to head for the 'Grand Line'!" which sent Koby into a panic.

"What?! You're saying crazy things again! How can you enter the Grand Line with just three people?" Yep, panic.

My crew mates didn't seem bothered by it, and, honestly, neither was I. How do you plan on getting something good without putting in a little work for it?

"We're going for the One Piece. It won't hurt to head in that direction." Zoro said, adding to Koby's hysteria.

Before any more yelling could take place I butted in. "What does it matter what _we_ do? You aren't coming with us. You want to join the marines, remember?"

Unfortunately, my comment didn't stop the yelling. Koby slammed his hands on the table. "Even though I'm not going with you, I'll still worry! Even though we just met, we're friends!"

Luffy grinned. "Yep! Even though we have to part, we'll always be friends!" Koby smiled at the response. He looked down a little.  
"I never had friends growing up. Every time I would be picked on, no one would stand up for me. But you guys taught me to live by my dream."

Of course that's a good thing. But why would he tell us that as part of an argument to keep us away from the Grand Line? It's kind of confusing, but I just shrugged and pulled my still dry journal out of my bag. Maybe I can finally get those notes written up.

Of course, fate, or Ava, wouldn't have it that way. A marine came through the door, calling out, "Excuse me!"

When he got our full attention he continued, "We were wondering, are you really pirates?"

"Yep. I just got my second crew mate." I made a mental note to tell Luffy later that sometimes lying is a better option, especially with marines involved.

"Even though you are pirates, you saved our town and base. For that we are grateful. But since you are pirates, as marines we cannot allow you to stay any longer. Please leave this place immediately. As for the events that occurred here, we will be reporting it to headquarters."

The townspeople looked fit to start a riot. But we just gathered our stuff and stood up. So much for writing in my journal. As we made our way to the door, the marine turned to Koby. "Aren't you with their group?

Oops. Koby seemed to recover pretty well though. "I-I'm not...I'm not with them!"

We had just made it through the door when the marine called out to us. "Please hold on. Is he telling the truth?"

Luffy then proceeded to talk about Koby's past with a fat female pirate named Alvida. I would've stopped him but I figured he was just trying to make Koby mad.

It ended up working, because Koby decked him. And then Luffy returned the favor, about five more times. Now was the time to step in, but Zoro had me covered. He grabbed Luffy by the back of his shirt while the marine was shouting. "Both of you stop it! I won't allow this town to get any more fights! I know he isn't your friend! Please leave this town immediately!"

We made our way outside and Zoro took it upon himself to try and intimidate some of the other marines as we walked through the town. When we got to the docks, he turned to praise our captain. "Nice act! This way, even if he was a pirate before, it won't be such a big deal!"

"As much as I would like to finish this conversation, we should probably go before something else happens. What's that they say about pirates? Not leaving anything behind. Something like that?"

"Yeah!" Luffy said untying our new dinghy.

We were interrupted, yet again, when Koby came running up calling Luffy's name. When we turned to look at him he saluted. "Thank you very much! I will never forget you for the rest of my life!"

I couldn't help but chuckle. How odd. "I've never seen a marine salute pirates before," Zoro said.

Luffy called out farewell and even more marines arrived to salute our little group of weirdoes. It was a sight, that's for sure.

But...the entire time we spent watching that island disappear, I couldn't help the weird feeling that we forgot something.


	6. Chapter 5: Of all the Circus Acts

_**Author's note again! Once again sorry for the long gap between chapters. Things have been rather hectic since school ended. I'm currently working on the next chapter and I hope to have that up in the next few days. Also, I'm going to be having surgery soon so, after that I'm going to be confined to bed/the couch, so hopefully chapters will come more steadily soon. Once again sorry and I hope you enjoy.**_

* * *

So, as usual, my weird feeling was there for a reason. We forgot to bring food. _'DAMMIT.'_ Luffy and Zoro were already complaining and it had only been a couple of hours. I figured Luffy would complain, but Zoro? He went for nine days without eating. A couple hours is nothing compared to that.

' _What did I get myself into?_ ' I found myself wondering again.

While I listened to my two crew mates talk, I pulled out my notebook. _This_ time, I would finish writing about the wendigoes. It wasn't anything scientific. I was more interested in their behavior, and how I saw them interact with one another. I also put how to kill them of course, as well as a cleaner sketch. I never thought I was any good at art, but the sketch proved well enough for me.

Luffy watched me write after a while of talking with Zoro about navigation, crew mates and more complaining. "Whoa! That looks just like one of the windy-guys! You're writing about them?!"

The cleaner sketch was the last thing I had to finish. Without looking up from my work, I answered, "Yeah. I said I wanted to learn about them, didn't I? I don't want to forget anything."

Zoro leaned over to look and his face contorted into a weird expression. "What is that?"

Luffy sat up properly and said, "That's a windy-guy. It's a monster. Ren killed a bunch of them on her island."

I flinched at the word monster and had to bite my tongue, finishing my sketch. "Wendigo. They are monster cannibals, basically. Nasty fuckers. Wouldn't recommend inviting one to dinner."

Zoro looked like he didn't believe us, so I did something I knew would prove my point. I lifted my shirt, moving some bandages to show him the still-healing gashes under my ribs. Pointing at it with what I hoped was an I-told-you-so expression, I said, "I've got more on my leg, but I don't feel comfortable taking my pants off." Truth be told I didn't feel comfortable uncovering my stomach, but he was my new crew mate. I didn't want him to think I was a liar.

When I thought I got my point across, I replaced the bandages and pulled my shirt and vest back down. Zoro looked surprised, to say the least. "Yep, they hurt like hell at first. It's kind of numb now though." I said, noting his expression.

"How'd you kill them?" He asked after a minute or so of silence.

"I blew up an entire cave system. I always knew my lighter would come in handy." I just shrugged, opting to leave out the fact that I was _in_ said cave system when it was blown up.

Seeing his confused face I made to comment again, but Luffy cut me off. "She set them all on fire! The explosion was awesome! She almost died, though."

I just rolled my eyes. "I had it under control. I wouldn't have died so easily." I mean, I died before, this time was nothing like that.

Luffy laughed good-naturedly and leaned back against the side of the boat. Zoro followed his lead and I let out a near-silent sigh. I hated being the center of attention.

I let out a louder sigh when both complained at the exact same time "So hungry..."

 _'Of course,'_ I thought, _'These guys can't go very long without complaining.'_ And I had to be the one to put up with it. So we sat, for a while. The guys would grumble every now and then and I could barely stop my eye twitching.

The rest of the day followed that pattern. Some of the night did too. Until they both fell asleep. Being the paranoid person that I am, I didn't feel right floating in the middle of the ocean at night. So, I mentally volunteered myself to keep watch for the night. It wasn't any big deal. I'd gone without sleep for longer before.

I took all the time I had while keeping watch to take a look at my weapons. Take stock and make sure they're all still in working order. They're gonna save my ass one day, so I need to keep them well maintained. Mostly I just cleaned the blades of my sword and made sure they popped out easily. I'd hate to be in the middle of a fight and suddenly my sword was no help. Not only would I be pissed off, but I'd also probably die.

When I finished that I was left with nothing to do. It wasn't even midnight! What the hell?! I thought of flipping through my notebook, then I realized how stupid that idea was. It was night time and, while the moon offered a little light, there was nowhere near enough light to read without wrecking my eyes. So I sat, bored out of my mind, for a few hours.

If the moon was anything to go by, it was after midnight when something in the water caught my eye. There was something _big_ and white coming in the direction of our boat. It was _under_ the water. "What the...?" I stood up and carefully walked over my crew mates to the opposite end of the boat. At that point I couldn't tell what it was. It just looked like a huge mass of white getting steadily closer.

My hand instinctively went to the back of my belt, resting against the handle of my weapon, just in case. I stood there in a tense silence for about five minutes, watching it get closer.

As it got closer, what I assume was its head turned and a large, black, almost _human_ eye met my gaze. It seemed almost curious. ' _What the hell is this thing?'_

I mean, I had a good idea, kind of. It wasn't a seaking, that much was for sure. If it were, it would have done more than watch me. No, this thing watched me with a calm interest as it floated by, just far enough underwater to not hit our boat.

Just then, while I held eye contact with it, there was the sound of water splashing farther down its body. When I looked over I nearly fell backwards at the sight of a fucking huge hand rising out of the water. I felt my jaw drop and my eyes widen. Slowly, the hand got closer to our boat. It stopped moving when it got a foot or so away from the boat. It held its finger out. A peace offering maybe? "I mean you no harm," or some shit?

Slowly I reached out and put my hand on its large finger. Seriously, my hand just barely covered its fingertip. I thought it would be impossible, but I was even more shocked to feel skin like a human's.

I tore my eyes away to make eye contact again. The emotion I saw in its eye shocked me yet again. It seemed happy. Awesome.

It stayed like that for a few minutes before retracting its hand back into the water. I guess it wanted to move on. It turned its head back to its original position and started floating away in the same direction as before.

I watched as the rest of its body floated past, noting that it had a tail similar to a whale's, moving up and down rather than side to side. I tried to estimate just how long it was and came to the conclusion of around 25 meters. All of this only confirmed my theory of what it was. There was only one thing that it could be, to be honest. An oceanic cryptid. Ningen. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. I stayed in the same position for a while. My mind was reeling.

"What was that?" My heart nearly jumped out of my chest at the sudden question. I whirled around to see Zoro watching me. It looked like he'd been up for a while.

"When did you wake up?" I asked, trying to calm my heart down. I didn't need to die from a heart attack this time.

"I heard splashing. When I looked over there was a huge hand."

I sighed, finally moving from my spot to sit down where I originally was, careful not to wake Luffy. "That was a cryptid, just like the wendigo. They're the things I want to learn about. The reason I keep that notebook. It didn't want to hurt us. I think it was just curious."

He nodded, settling back against the side of the boat.

"Now you know I'm not bullshitting you." I smirked at him.

"Excuse me for finding it hard to believe."

I let out a laugh. "You know that devil fruit users and the like exist. It's not that big of a stretch." He went quiet after that. I took it as a personal victory.

After several minutes of silence, I looked back over to find him asleep again. _'Of course.'_ I couldn't help but roll my eyes. These two were so strange.

So I sat there, for the rest of the night. The silence was strange, but kind of peaceful. I knew as soon as Luffy and Zoro woke up there would be more complaining, so I enjoyed the peace while it was there.

Of course, as I predicted, the first thing Luffy did when he woke up was complain about food or, rather, the lack thereof. Zoro joined him when he got up as well. It was like that all morning. I couldn't even concentrate on adding info about my new "friend" to my notebook. I was getting really close to snapping at them.

A reprieve came in the form of a bird flying over head. The others noticed it too.

"Let's eat that bird!" ' _Dammit.'_ Before I could reach out to stop him, Luffy had launched himself into the air, straight at the bird. I would've been impressed if the bird hadn't bitten down on his head, proceeding to carry him away.

"...Are you fucking serious?" I questioned before Zoro shouted after him, taking up the oars on either side of our boat and rowing like hell to keep up with the bird.

I could do nothing but stand there with my palm on my forehead. I was surprised I managed to keep my balance in the lurching boat. Not even a minute later, I spotted some heads bobbing above the water in the direction we were going. "There are some guys directly in our path. Maybe there was a shipwreck or something?"

"What?!" Looking over his shoulder, Zoro shouted, "I don't have the time to stop! You guys get on yourselves!"

We reached them pretty quickly and the boat rocked at their sudden arrival. "Oh good. You made it." I said, still trying to keep an eye on the bird that was slowly getting smaller in the distance. To be honest I would've felt bad if we had left them. I'd been in the same position not long ago. So I was pretty glad they were able to climb on.

The happiness was gone, though, when one of them spoke, pulling out a knife. "Stop! This is the Captain Buggy's territory."

I didn't even bother sending Zoro a glance. "Keep rowing, I'll handle this."

The pirates laughed loudly at me. I guess I didn't seem like much. Nevertheless, the one with the knife lunged at me waving his knife like a mad man. Or an idiot.

It was an easy matter of ducking under his arm and hitting him in the jaw with an open-palm strike. He fell back and the other two converged on me. I waited until they were both in arm's reach before grabbing them by their shoulders and slamming them together, making sure they headbutted each other. They fell away just as the first guy started to sit up, reaching for his knife again. I kicked it out of the way and swung around to kick him in the face.

"Well, that was easy." I commented to Zoro, making him snort. I walked forward, away from the pirates. "So, Zoro, should we put them to work?" I asked turning to face the guys.

They all shot up at his name, that's what I had expected. He was known as the "Pirate Hunter," after all. So, we forced them to take Zoro's place in rowing.

They were all fake grins though. "We didn't know you were "Pirate Hunter Zoro!" We're really sorry."

Zoro wasn't having any of their shit though. "You three made me lose track of my friend!"We were both sitting opposite the pirates. I couldn't help but say, "Put some back into it. Surely you guys can row faster than that. I'm gonna be pissed if we don't catch up to Luffy."

"By the way," Zoro started, "Why were you three drifting in the middle of the ocean?"

"Yes! I'm glad you asked!" The "leader" of the three said.

"It was because of that girl!"

"It was her fault!"

"She was real cute though!"

They ignored my irritated look and continued. "The three of us just finished robbing a ship, and on the way back, when we saw a boat. We thought there might've been something to steal so we got closer. Then we noticed a girl on it. She wasn't moving or anything, so we thought she was dead at first. But then she stood up. She looked weak, like she'd been there for a while.

"She said she was in a ship wreck and asked for some water in bread. She even offered some of her treasure to us! So, being the nice pirates that we are, we said we'd help, after she showed us the treasure. But while we were busy trying to open the chest, she sailed off with our boat looking healthy as can be! The chest was empty too! Then she started talking crap about the weather. Then a storm came out of nowhere and the boat capsized! And that's what happened."

One of the pirates even had the gall to ask, "Horrible, huh?!"

Zoro and I didn't pay them any mind. I was focused on this girl that could predict the weather. "She must be a good navigator."

Zoro nodded and added, "Wonder if she'd join us..."

Then the pirates started talking about their captain, some guy named Buggy. Apparently he ate a devil fruit. I just kind of tuned them out in favor of watching the approaching island.

When we got to port, I looked over to examine the pirate ship already docked. It looked like a fucking circus. Not even bothering to hide my distaste, I turned to Zoro. "There's gonna be a fucking clown, isn't there? If he comes at me, I'm taking a kill shot!"

He snorted at my comment before turning to our pirate "companions." "What's going on? The village is empty. I can't see anyone."

The biggest of the three scratched the back of his head, trying to appear sheepish. "The truth is our Buggy pirate fleet is here at the moment, raiding this village."

"We probably need to find this Buggy guy then, yeah?" I asked Zoro.  
He 'hmm'd,' nodding. "We might be able to hear some information about Luffy."

"They're supposed to be at the bar. We'll just wait here for a bit. Maybe we'll find that girl." They were too scared to step off the dock.

"Okay then." I nodded, moving to one of the nearby buildings. Then, I started climbing the wall, like a fucking ninja. I stopped about halfway when Zoro asked, "What are you doing?"

I sighed. "Why don't you mind your own damn business?" I shot back sarcastically, flashing him a grin before answering. "I figured it would be easier to find our way to the bar if we had a birds-eye view." Then I turned back to my climbing.

I had a pretty nice view of the town from my spot on the roof. In the distance I spotted a lot of movement on top of another building. "Aha! I think I found it."

Without further ado, I jumped down to where Zoro was standing, surprising him a bit. "It's to the northwest of us."

Zoro nodded and started walking in the opposite direction. Before I got too far I jumped closer and grabbed his arm. "Zoro, buddy. You're going the wrong way." I pointed the way we were supposed to go, letting go of him to start walking.

"Are you sure?"

"Considering this is the way I was facing just a minute ago, yes." _'Note to self: don't let Zoro lead you anywhere.'_

My thought proved true when I had to stop several times to push him in the proper direction along the way. I had just stopped for that exact reason when an explosion made me jump. The next thing I knew, the building next to me exploded, sending debris toward me. Without even thinking I was gone.

"Holy fuck!" I shouted into the Darkness. I barely avoided being hit by a huge chunk of wall. I calmed myself, before going back a few seconds after I left.

"Phew." I sighed, looking around. Zoro seemed to be intact. He was kind of staring at me, though.

"How-?"

I cut him off. "As much as I'd like to explain, something tells me our captain might be near whatever caused that." With that, I took off in the direction we were originally headed. It didn't take long to find the bar. After all, there was a big sign on the front.

Zoro ran inside and I ran towards the wall. It would be easier for me to scale the wall. When I reached the top I saw Luffy sitting in a cage. _'Fucking really...?'_

To make matters worse, there was a cannon pointed at him with the fuse lit. On the opposite side of the cannon was a girl, confronting a handful of pirates.

In all the fighting and bustle, it was easy for me to pull myself up and make my way to the cannon. I'm honestly surprised no one noticed me. Oh well, it just made the job easier.

The fuse was getting smaller and smaller, so I licked my thumb and pointer and used them to grab the end of the fuse, putting it out. With that out of the way, I glanced over to see Zoro had protected the girl from the pirates that had attacked her. He used two of his swords to block them without taking them out of their sheaths.

"Zoro! Ren!" Luffy had a huge grin on his face. "Thank goodness you actually found this place! Get me outta this thing, quick."

I smirked, walking to him, while Zoro said, "Is this your idea of fun?! You get caught by a bird and got carried away, and now when we find you, you're in a cage?!"

I knocked on the top of the cage, looking down at Luffy. "It's pretty stupid." I made to add something else, but I got cut off by an annoying-sounding voice.

"You're definitely Zoro. Are you here for my head?" There was a fucking clown standing behind Zoro.

"I fucking knew it! Why does there always have to be a fucking clown?!"

Clown guy, who I assumed was Buggy glared at me and Zoro said, "Not interested. I'm just here for my friend."

Buggy was spinning a knife around. "But I have some interest. If I kill you, my name will become even more famous."

I could feel my eyebrow twitching. Fucking clowns.

Zoro didn't pay him any mind, "If you don't wanna die, then just leave me alone."

Buggy was either way too confident in his own skills or he was stupid, I was hoping for the latter. His pirate crew seemed to follow in that mindset. "Ooohhhhh! Kill him, Captain! Send Zoro off!"

Buggy laughed. "If you don't show your true skills now, you'll soon be covered in blood!"

Zoro grabbed his swords and spoke surprisingly well considering he had one in his mouth. "Fine, if that's what you want." He didn't even hesitate. If I would've blinked, I'd've missed it. He sliced buggy in four, once through his arm, through his torso, and through his leg.

Apparently I was the only one to notice the suspicious lack of blood. I also couldn't help but notice the unconcerned faces of Buggy's crew. Honestly, it just pissed me off. I never liked not knowing what was going on.

 _'Why wouldn't they be upset about their captain? And, to be honest, he went down too easily. What the fuck is with their stupid smug grins? And now they're laughing?'_

If I hadn't been watching Buggy's body, I wouldn't have noticed the slight twitch of his hand. "Zoro! Watch-!" Unfortunately my warning was too late. Buggy's hand flew forward and stabbed Zoro in the side, the blade running straight through to his front.

ZORO?!" Luffy called, shocked. Well, we were all shocked, except for Buggy's crew, who were laughing like they'd just been told the funniest joke in the world.

Buggy's hand pulled the knife free from Zoro's side and floated in front of him. Zoro was too preoccupied wondering what the fuck was going on with the floating hand to notice the rest of Buggy's body floating behind him. It was only when Buggy spoke did he notice.

The Chop-Chop fruit!" He spoke, his body piecing itself together while its owner grinned maniacally, "That's the name of the Devil Fruit that I ate! No matter how you try to slice me up, you can't kill me because I'm a Chop-Chop man!"

"A Chop-Chop man? That guy's a monster!" _'Says the rubber man...'_ I couldn't help but to roll my eyes at Luffy's exclamation.

The grin never left Buggy's face. "I see I've missed your vitals, Roronoa Zoro! But it's still a pretty serious injury."

His crew continued to cheer his underhanded move. I would've intervened had Luffy not shouted, "Stabbing from the back, that's dirty! You big nose!"

To say the pirates' reactions were funny was an understatement. They all froze, their jaws slack as Buggy gave Luffy a harsh glare. I couldn't help the laugh that escaped me, though I was largely ignored.

Buggy was pissed. He shot his hand holding a knife at Luffy. "Who are you calling big nose?!"

Luffy managed to catch the knife with his teeth, breaking the blade, much to everyone's surprise. " I swear, I'm gonna take you down!" He said, despite the blade still locked in his teeth.

Buggy let out a loud laugh. "You're gonna take me down?! You're hilarious! You four are gonna die right now!" He let out another laugh. "And just what are you gonna do now?!"

Luffy didn't even pause. "Zoro! Ren! Run away!" What?

My confusion didn't last long. I knew that look in his eyes. Zoro seemed to have the same idea as he looked at me. I just gave him a smirk and slight nod. "Okay." We both said, turning away.

Buggy let out some exclamation about not letting Roronoa Zoro get away before shooting both of his hands, each holding a knife, at Zoro.

Sometimes it's good to be underestimated. The pirates were certainly shocked when I blocked the knives with my sword. I heard Zoro's footsteps running and then the sound of something tipping over.

I turned around to see that he'd tipped the cannon to face the opposite direction, towards the pirates, and, inadvertently, me. Zoro said something to the girl and she looked at him in shock. "But she's your crew mate, isn't she?!"

"Go ahead and light it." I said, giving her a slight smile before disappearing.

I grinned, looking around at Nothing. "Oh man, I can just imagine the shocked faces." I let out a small laugh before returning to a cloud of smoke. I heard Zoro's voice and headed in that direction.

As I got closer, I heard the mystery girl yell at Luffy. Something about him being stuck in his cage. I stepped through the smoke in time to see Zoro hoist Luffy's cage up over his shoulder.

"That is not good for your health Zoro. Do you want some help?" My voice seemed to surprise them. Luffy recovered first, grinning at me. "Ren!"

Zoro was next, answering my comment gruffly. "I've got it. Just stay out of the way." I just shrugged. He'd probably have a fit if I pushed it.

We got several blocks away when I finally convinced Zoro to stop. "We're pretty far away from the pub now." I said, looking at the cage he was dragging behind him. "I doubt they'll catch up with us so soon. The cage is a big fucking nuisance though..."

Zoro let go of the cage, collapsing to the ground. "This is it. I don't have enough blood. I can't walk any longer."

Though, to be fair, I wasn't really paying attention to them anymore. I gasped loudly. There was a dog. "Dog!"

I knelt down next to it as Luffy stared at it.

"Is it even a dog? It isn't moving. I wonder if it's dead." He then tried to provoke the dog by poking it in both eyes.

True, the dog stood as still as a statue, but that didn't mean it was going to take shit from a random stranger poking it in the eyes.. It proved this by latching on to Luffy's face. I just sighed as Luffy started yelling at the dog.

"Luffy! You need to treat him better than that!" I carefully pulled the dog off of Luffy and put him in his previous spot. I gave Luffy what I hoped was a stern look before turning to the dog. Holding out my hand to it. He sniffed it for a second before deciding I wasn't worth biting, which I took as a sign that I could pet him. Score!

It was quiet for a while, we all stayed in the same positions until the girl from earlier—Nami, Luffy'd told us—walked up. "Hey, our navigator." Luffy and Zoro said in sync, looking up at her.

"I never agreed to that!" She snapped. "I just came to repay my debt to you. Because you saved my life back there." With that she threw a key on the ground next to Luffy's cage.

"You stole the key!" Luffy said. Cool, that helped us out a lot.

I was casually still petting the dog while Nami lamented about not being able to steal treasure. The guys were celebrating getting Luffy out of his cage. Before any of us could react, the dog leaned forward and grabbed the key in his mouth. We were all frozen until we heard a near-silent "gulp."

 _'Well shit.'_


	7. Chapter 6: Stubborn Swordsmen

***Twirls in throwing my apologies in the air like confetti* Hello friendos! New chapter! It took me a bit because it's a bit longer than regular chapters, which, I hope, makes up for the long wait time. I sincerely hope you enjoy this chapter.**

* * *

My jaw dropped. _'Did that really just fucking happen?'_ The others were likewise shocked. How the fuck were we supposed to open the cage now?

Luffy was the first to recover, reaching out of his cage to attack the dog. "You stupid dog! Spit it out! That isn't food!" None of us reacted as we watched Luffy take out his anger.

I jumped when a voice suddenly shouted, "You little brats! Don't you pick on poor old Chouchou!" It was an old man wearing rather bulky looking armor on his chest, arms, and legs. He carried a spear on his back, and seemed obviously upset.

"Chouchou?" I heard Luffy ask through sounds of a struggle. I didn't have to look over to know Chouchou had ahold of his face again.

"Who're you, old man?" Zoro asked, gaining the man's attention.

"Who am I? I'm the mayor of this town, that's who. Who're you and why are you hurting Chouchou?" The mayor glanced down at Zoro and noticed the wound on his side. "That's quite an injury you have there. I take it that you had a run in with Captain Buggy. We need to get you to a doctor."

Zoro shrugged his comment off. "I just need some sleep."

 _Slap!_ I couldn't stop myself from facepalming. The bright side is it scared the shit out of everyone. "You're bleeding, Zoro. You're going to need more than just 'rest.'" He just shrugged. _'Why does he have to be so fucking difficult?'_

I sighed before looking at the mayor, who was helping Zoro up before I scared them. "If you'll get him somewhere to rest, I should be able to bandage his wound." That seemed to appease the mayor, who looked like he had wanted to argue with Zoro as well.

I followed behind them as the mayor led us somewhere "I'll take you to my house to rest." He told Zoro, who he was helping to walk.

He led us into his house, which was just down the road, conveniently. Once he set Zoro down, he went about looking in his bathroom for bandages, while I eyed the swordsman. "Don't you fucking dare lay down just yet." He just rolled his eyes at me, but stayed sitting up anyways, letting out an exaggerated yawn.

The mayor finally came back with a bundle of bandages. "Are you a doctor?" He asked, handing me the bandages.

"Nah. But I was a doctor's aide on my island. I can handle first aid and things."

He nodded. "Alright. I'll leave you to it. I'm going back to make sure your friends aren't hurting poor Chouchou again."

"Okay. Thanks."

When he left, I turned to Zoro, who looked rather annoyed at still being awake. "So, are you going to let me look at your wound?"

"I already told you it's not that bad. Just let me sleep."

"You're full of shit. What? Is your pride really more important than your health? That's pretty fucking stupid." He narrowed his eyes at me and I returned the gesture.

Eventually I sighed. "You're lucky I really want to go back to pet the dog. Lift your arms."

"What?"

"Lift your fucking arms. You're not gonna let me get a closer look at your wound, so I'll have to settle for wrapping these bandages around your torso to keep the bleeding in check. It'll be quick. Then you'll be able to get your much desired _sleep._ "

Seeming appeased, he did what I said, allowing me to wrap the bandages tight enough to stop the bleeding. In the close proximity I couldn't help but notice how warm he was. Like a fucking space heater. I doubted he had a fever because, despite the bleeding wound in his side, he didn't look _that_ much worse for wear. I also couldn't help noticing him wince when I wrapped the bandages over his wound. _'Not that bad my ass.'_

After I finished, I stood back to review my handiwork. It was crude, but Zoro wouldn't let me get a proper look at his wound, so it would have to do. "There. Happy, Mr. I'm-so-macho-I'll-bleed-out-before-I-ask-for-help?"

He just hummed, letting himself fall back on the bed, falling asleep almost immediately. I just gave him a dry look. "You could at least get under the blanket before passing out, you jerk. You're just like a fucking kid." I pulled the blanket up to his chest, like I'd done many times when I babysat Serah and with-

I felt my breath hitch in my throat as I jerked away from the blanket. "Rhea." It was a near-silent whisper and I barely noticed myself saying it. My thoughts started delving down a dark path. One that I usually like to avoid. _Blood...Lots of blood...So much fucking blood...Crying...Feeling like my heart was ripped out of my chest. 'It might as well have been.'_ I hand instinctively went to rub a scar on the back of my neck. _The tight grip of hands on my arms...The knife...Their eyes. Oh god, their eyes._

I was jolted out of my reverie by a loud crashing sound. It was like a building had collapsed. Slightly thankful for the distraction, I sighed. My cheeks were wet. Dammit. I'm not supposed to cry. I wiped angrily at my eyes, angry at myself.

It took me a moment to realize that the crashing probably had something to do with my captain. When the realization came, I sprinted out of the house and down the street where I was shocked to see a man riding a lion. He was beating the shit out of Chouchou. And Chouchou was trying his damnedest to protect the pet shop he had been sitting in front of earlier.

Worst of it all, I couldn't make it in time to stop the asshole from setting the store ablaze. The lion—and his owner, who was still mounted on its back—sauntered away, seeming proud of itself.

Chouchou, devastated, could do nothing but sit and bark as the flames took away something that was surely a treasure to him. Those bastards.

I barely heard Luffy walk around a corner before taking off in the direction the lion went. Luckily, they didn't get that far and I caught up to them easily enough.

I came to a stop a bit behind them. "HEY! YOU COWARDLY BASTARD ON TOP OF YOUR PUSSY CAT!" The both froze, before turning to face me.

"Me? Cowardly? You've got some nerve, woman."

"Yeah, you're a fucking cowardly piece of shit. Picking on a dog like that, for no reason. You didn't even do anything, you just sat back and let your _pet_ do everything. That makes me think you must be really fucking pathetic."

As if to prove my point, the man climbed off his lion and pointed at me. "She just insulted us. Get her Richie!" Richie charged at me, letting out a roar.

Once the lion got close enough I reached past its head, to its mane, getting a good grip. Acting quickly, I took a step back, turning slightly and _threw_ him into the side of a building. Yeah, I fucking threw him. That wasn't something I had ever imagined I would say. When the lion stood trying to right himself, I rushed him, kicking him right in the side of his face with strength I didn't know I had. I would have to apologize to the mayor later for destroying another building.

Richie lay among the rubble of a building, knocked out. His owner/partner gawked at me, putting his hands up in surrender. "Okay! Okay! I'll give you all the gold you want! Just let us live! Please!"

I slowly made my way to him, growling. "You think I came after you for FUCKING MONEY?" I punched him, knocking him away several feet. Not ceasing my approach, I continued, "YOU THINK MONEY IS GOING TO REPAY WHAT YOU DID TO CHOUCHOU?!" I grabbed him by the collar. "Your _money_ ," I spat, "means less than shit to me. I came to teach you a fucking lesson, you piece of shit." With that I punched him again, keeping a hold on his collar as I watched him pass out. Then, out of spite, I kicked him over to where his pet was laying.

I took a moment to calm my breathing before noticing something near where the asshole originally stood. It was a box of pet food. The only thing left of that pet shop. I didn't even think twice before picking it up and walking back to Chouchou. When I arrived, I heard Nami yelling about how all pirates were like this and, thus, evil. Luffy paid her no mind as he grinned at me. "Ren! You're back!" I gave him a halfhearted smirk before turning and walking to Chouchou, who was staring sadly at the remains of his treasure.

Kneeling down beside him, I put the box of pet food on the ground. He seemed surprised as I pet his head. "I know," I whispered, "You lost someone important. You were trying to protect their memory. And you put up a damn good fight, too. I'm sorry I couldn't save the building for you. But at least you'll have this. This and your memories. That should be enough, right?"

I stopped petting him as he stood up, grabbing the box in his mouth and walking away. He stopped after several steps and turned to look at me. Letting go of the box, he let out what I assume was a thankful bark. I couldn't help but smile. "Take care of yourself." I called back, hearing his answer of more barks before he picked up the box and left in the direction of what I hoped was the refugee camp the mayor had told us about.

I heard Nami start apologizing to Luffy for yelling before I felt a wave of dizziness envelope me. In front of my eyes was no longer the remains of a pet shop. I was looking at a screen, probably from a computer. On the screen I saw a scene play out. It was the scene that was taking place behind me, only animated. The mayor was exclaiming that he was going to fight Buggy. Then a voice shouted, "Fire the Buggy Ball!" The cannon ball went through a row of houses, including the one that currently housed a certain swordsman.

Then, just like the scene and dizziness came, they vanished. I was back in front of the ruins of the pet shop. Nami was telling the mayor to calm down. Just like part of the scene I had watched.

I didn't even give myself time to think. I used the Darkness to get to where Zoro was still resting and in the next instant I heard loud crashing again. Moving faster than I thought I could, I grabbed Zoro and let the Darkness take us into the Nothing, and then, into the middle of the street just as the house exploded.

I didn't have time to sigh with relief as a sharp, pulsing pain erupted in my head. I fell to my knees beside the still-sleeping swordsman, clutching my head with both hands. As familiar as the pain was, I could never get used to it. It's just as bad every time.

I tried to concentrate on anything but the pain and heard three pairs of running footsteps come to a halt a few feet away. "Ren," A familiar voice said, uncharacteristically quiet. "You're bleeding."

Then there was a groan next to me. I assumed Zoro sat up. "That was one hell of an alarm clock."

I pulled a shaking hand away from the side of my head to touch my face, just under my nose. Yep, blood. Using the same hand, I reached into a smaller pocket on my bag and pulled out a tissue, holding it to my nose. The entire time I had my eyes clenched shut.

Zoro noticed me sitting next to him. "What happened?"

"We thought you got hit by a Buggy Ball. But I guess Ren saved you. I think she got hurt." Luffy answered. I could feel all eyes on me. I managed to open one eye and turn my head to see the concerned faces of my crew mates. "This happens when I overdo it. I lost count of how many times this happened when I was learning to control it. I haven't mastered going different places yet, and even if I did, I certainly have never taken someone with me. Don't worry. I'll be fine."

Nami and the mayor seemed confused as realization shone on Luffy and Zoro's faces. Zoro, being the sarcastic little shit that he was, then said, "Maybe you should get some rest." I didn't even have to look at him to know he was smirking.

"I'll rest after I kick your ass." The pain was starting to dull minutely. It wouldn't go away completely for a few hours, but it had dulled enough for me to stand it. Unfortunately, it left me exhausted. My nosebleed even stopped after a minute and I looked up. "There's not a lot of blood on my face, is there?"

Nami shook her head, coming out of her confusion. "No, I think you got it all."

I smiled at her in thanks and moved to stand up noting that my legs felt a little shaky. My attention was brought away from myself when I heard the mayor exclaim, "I've had enough. I won't lose a second town to those goddamn pirates!"

He grabbed the spear off of his back, clenching his jaw. "These pirates show up, thinking they can do whatever the hell they want, but I won't let them ruin forty years of hard work!" Then, raising his hands above his head, "I'm the mayor! I won't take this sitting down! It's time to fight!"

Nami grabbed the back of his shirt as he tried to run off. "Mayor, please wait! Getting yourself killed won't accomplish anything! You're being reckless!"

"I KNOW I'M BEING RECKLESS!" He shouted, eyes brimming with tears, shocking Nami to the point that she let him go. Then he ran off, yelling, "Buggy the clown! Prepare to meet your match!" He was rather spry for an old man, leaving a cloud of dust behind him.

After he was out of sight, Nami commented, "The mayor...he was crying."

Luffy smirked. "It didn't look that way to me. Did you see him crying, Ren?"

"I saw nothing of the sort, captain." That man was willing to give everything to protect his home. While I had never had those feelings, it was a valiant plight. And I was willing to help him.

Apparently so were my crew mates. "Things are finally about to get interesting." Zoro commented with a smirk. Luffy laughed and agreed while I nodded.

"This is no laughing matter!" Nami obviously didn't know us very well.

Luffy grinned at her. "Don worry, I like that old man. I won't let him get killed."

His grin just set her off more. "How can you just stand there laughing?! What do you get out of this anyway?"

"We're headed for the Grand Line! We'll steal Buggy's map and go together." Luffy then held a hand out to Nami. "Come join us! You want the map and all that treasure, right?"

Nami slapped his hand. "I won't become a pirate. Let's just say we'll team up and work together for a common goal."

Luffy grinned. "Alright!"

With that, we set off in the direction that the mayor went, not without a few complaints from Nami about Zoro fighting with his wound. Zoro just brushed her comments off, tying his bandanna around his head.

* * *

We got there just in time to see Buggy trying to strangle the mayor. He'd sent a hand flying and lifted the mayor off of his feet. Luckily, Luffy saw fit to interfere, pulling the hand away from the mayor's throat before any lasting damage was done.

So he stood there, holding the mayor up by his armor with one hand, and keeping a tight grip on Buggy's with the other. His ever-present grin was still in place.

Buggy was surprised and outraged. "Straw hat boy!"

"I'm back! I told you I'd come to kick your ass!" With that, he let Buggy's hand go. It promptly returned to its owner, who shouted, "I can't believe it! You must enjoy pain, because this time you won't escape me!"

Nami was quick to get to her main goal. "I'm just here for the map and treasure. Have fun fighting." I just shrugged.

The mayor tried to intervene. Something about this being his battle or some shit. I could hardly pay attention through another wave of dizziness and pain shooting through my head. Luffy shut the mayor up by slamming his face into a wall, effectively knocking the man out, to everyone's shock. Except for mine. I was beyond the point of caring.

Oh good, Nami was back to yelling at Luffy. She said something about being reckless. Luffy paid her no mind, shouting at Buggy, "HEY YOU! BIG NOSE!" The other crews' jaws dropped which was always comical.

Buggy was the first to recover, his shock switching to anger. "YOU'RE DEAD NOW! Give him the Buggy Ball!" The cannon was quickly aimed and fired in our general direction. Nami started running away, shouting about Luffy being an idiot and Zoro was trying to get him out of the way. The next thing I knew, Luffy took a deep breath and his body swelled up to look like a balloon.

"Gum-gum balloon!" With that, the balloon ricocheted off his stomach right back at the pub where Buggy's pirates resided. The building then exploded, sending pirates and debris flying. Luffy replaced his hat, which had fallen off. "That should make things fair! Let's get 'em!"

Beside me, Zoro sighed. "Made me worry for nothing..."

Then, Nami started the whole "What the hell are you?!" spiel. It was interrupted by the sound of footsteps. Buggy and a crew mate came forward. Buggy had used two members of his crew as human shields. The other guy had used Richie, which I couldn't make myself feel bad about.

Buggy dropped his human shields and the unknown guy, who wore a long checkered scarf and a sleeveless, long coat spoke. "Captain, this is the biggest disgrace we've had since you formed our crew."

At that I had to let out a little laugh, ignoring the looks from my crew mates. "That just kind of implied that forming that crew was a disgrace. Self burn."

Before anything else could be said, lion douche from earlier made his way out from under some rubble. I couldn't really hear what he said until he exclaimed, "Cabaji! What did you do to poor Richie?!"  
Cabaji dropped Richie and said something I couldn't hear, which angered his crew mate. Lion dude then exclaimed about Luffy being a rubber man and subsequently got thrown in our direction by Buggy for not mentioning it earlier.

I moved in front of Luffy and rose my foot to meet him in the gut. "Did you not learn your lesson?" I taunted as Luffy laughed behind me. "You and your cat better not fucking mess with us." I watched as he scuttled away to Richie who seemed to remember me from earlier.

Then I turned to Luffy and Zoro. "You guys should be able to take the other two down, right?" They both nodded, Luffy throwing in a "No problem!"

"Cool, because my headache is coming back and if I have to deal with any of them, I'll kick their asses and then yours." With that, I moved to sit against a wall, out of the way of the impending fights. Perfect timing, too, because the pain came back in full force.

I clenched my eyes shut and tried to listen, but everything was going by in a blur. There were the sounds of metal on metal. Zoro crying out in pain. Something about Cabaji kicking him. More than once. "Zoro! Meet your match!" then the sound of Cabaji falling to the ground. Apparently Zoro cut his wounds open wider. I'll kick his ass later. Mr. I'm-so-macho-I'll-die-before-showing-weakness. "I won't lose to anyone who calls himself a swordsman."

Nami left to go look for treasure. "I don't care if you guys die." Not in those exact words, but that's basically what she meant. Cabaji yelling something about acrobat and tops. Some shit about a mountain. I could only assume he was yelling names for his attacks. Buggy tried to help Cabaji get an easy victory but Luffy stopped him. Zoro trying to act macho again, despite his constantly bleeding wound. "Oni giri!" The next thing I knew, Zoro collapsed next to me, telling Luffy he was going to sleep. Victory number one.

Buggy was making fun of us "no-name" pirates wanting to go the Grand Line and Luffy's dream. He started yelling, his voice grating on my nerves.

"Shut the fuck up you clown nosed bitch! Your voice is so fucking annoying. Luffy just hurry up and kick his ass, okay?"

Luffy laughed. "No worries." He answered before his voice seemed to get farther away, "Hurry up and attack me. I'm getting bored."

It was getting easier to keep track. Buggy started taunting Luffy about knowledge of the location of "Red Hair," who I assumed was another pirate. I assume Luffy dodged to avoid some of Buggy's attacks and extended his arm, maybe to prepare for an attack. Buggy threatened to cut Luffy's arm off and was almost hit, but he disconnected some part of his body to avoid it.

A building exploded, which I assumed was Luffy's doing. There were more flying knives, from the sounds of it. Then things went quiet for a minute.

"Damn you!" I had to look up to see why Luffy was using such a tone. He sat among some rubble, blood running down his cheek from a cut. He was holding his hat. Oh. _Oh._ Luffy had told me that his hat was his treasure.

"That does it! You cut my hat!"

"So?" Buggy didn't seem to understand what kind of trouble he was in.

"THIS HAT IS MY TREASURE! NOBODY CAN HURT MY HAT!"

I barely noticed Buggy send his hand wielding three knives flying. Straight for Luffy's hat. "Then you should take better care of it!" The knives embedded themselves in the hat and then brought it back to Buggy.

I didn't even need to look at Luffy to tell how pissed he was. Anger rolled off him in waves. He shot up, heading for Buggy. "I promised Shanks that I would return that hat to him!"

"Huh? You say this is the hat that belonged to Shanks?" Buggy asked, throwing it on the ground. "I thought it looked familiar. Me and Shanks worked on the same pirate ship a long time ago." To make matters worse, he spat on it. "We were both young apprentice pirates, you might say."

Luffy was enraged, pulling an arm back. "Shanks is a great pirate! It doesn't matter if you two knew each other!"

Buggy detached his head in anticipation of Luffy's attack. But Luffy took him by surprise, hitting him in the stomach. "Don't put yourself on the same level as him!"

He then went to pick up his hat, rubbing it against Buggy's face, much to Buggy's disdain. Then, he grabbed the clown by the cheeks. "Don't you ever mention yourself and Shanks in the same breath again!"

Of course, Buggy wanted to have the last word. "Hmph! I don't know what your connection to Shanks is, but I'll say whatever the hell I want about him." He started to move and Luffy hit him in the face shouting, "Don't split apart!"

Smirking, I went back to closing my eyes. It was too much effort to keep them open, and trying to keep up with the fighters' movements didn't help my headache.

Buggy went into a story about how Shanks "stole treasure" from him. It was literally just that Buggy was greedy and wanted to steal a devil fruit from his crew and make off with a treasure map. Shanks accidentally made him swallow the devil fruit, thus ending whatever hopes Buggy had of getting the treasure, which was under water. Buggy dropped his map in the ocean and jumped in trying to get it, but he couldn't swim. Shanks saved him and Buggy was just being a petty little shit about it. Luffy agreed, but Buggy continued, saying how much he hated Shanks.

Then, he tried to attack Nami, who had been successful in looting treasure. Luffy managed to stop him in an apparently painful way. Then there was a childish fight over the treasure. "I stole that!" "Well I stole it from you, so it's mine." Buggy split apart his body but apparently his feet don't fly, according to Luffy. Then, Buggy's laughing and yelling to "Cut it out!" before crying out in pain again. Luffy attacked and I heard the sound of what could only be treasure falling all over the ground.

"Finally I got the map!" Sweet. "Not so fast Gum-gum boy!" Not sweet.

I opened my eyes again just as Buggy tried to get his body reassembled. Only his feet and hands came back. I wanted to laugh. So bad. But I knew it would just mess with my headache. Nami had tied the rest of Buggy's body together and Luffy ended the fight with a Gum-Gum Bazooka. Victory number two.

Luffy started celebrating his victory. Then he turned to Nami. "Now you'll join my crew, right?"

"For now, I guess. It looks like I'll make a fortune if I stick around you guys."

"Oh yes, because money is the only thing that matters in the world. Who cares about friends and family when you've got money? Is that where you're going with that, Nami?" I couldn't help the cold tone of my voice. She seemed shocked, and quite angry at my accusation. I ignored her in favor of shooting Luffy a smile. "Nice work, captain."

He grinned before turning to pick up his hat. He dusted it off and put it on his head. He made his way over to where Zoro lay, crouching down and patting the back of his head. "Zoro, wake up! Let's get going!"

"Huh? Did you take care of things?" Zoro asked, slowly sitting up.

"Yeah, I got the map and the treasure."

Zoro was quiet for a second before he brought a hand to his head. "Damn, it's no good. I can't walk like this."

"Of course not! I wouldn't believe either of you were human if you could." Well, at least she didn't lump me in with them.

"Don't lump me with him." Luffy managed to look upset.

"You're even less human than he is!" I couldn't help but let out a laugh at Nami's exasperation.

Luffy paid her no mind and instead turned to where the mayor lay, still unconscious. "I almost forgot about the mayor!" He made to walk towards him but was stopped when a voice called out, "Hey, you four."  
How the fuck did I not notice them? I must've been more worn out than I thought. A group of people stood several feet away. "We're citizens of this town. Did Buggy's crew have a mutiny? Tell me."

Nami seemed relieved and tried to explain our situation to them but what caught off when they finally noticed their mayor laying off to the side. They all rushed over. "MAYOR! ARE YOU OKAY?! IT WAS THOSE GODDAMNED PIRATES, WASN'T IT?!"

I would've been content to let them believe that. It would save us some trouble. Apparently Luffy didn't feel the same way, or maybe, he didn't like to lie. Either way, he confessed, "No, it wasn't them. I knocked the old man out."

The villagers reacted as I had expected them to. They were pissed. Nami was upset too, but she was angry that Luffy confessed. She had the same thought as I did. "Luffy, you didn't need to tell them that!"

"But you saw me do it, too."

"Yeah, but I wouldn't have told them!"

Having enough of the yelling, I stepped in. "Nami, yelling won't work with him."

"But-!"

Whatever she was going to say was cut off by the by the villagers.

"YOU MEAN YOU DID THIS TO THE MAYOR?!"

"THAT'S TERRIBLE!"

"Wait a minute... Are you guys pirates?!"

Of course, Luffy's honesty knows no bounds. Before anyone else could stop him he answered, "Yeah, we're pirates!"

That seemed to strengthen the citizens' resolution to attack us. Zoro started laughing and I couldn't help but join him. Maybe it was the exhaustion, or maybe it was the craziness of the situation. I just thought it was hilarious.

Nami didn't feel the same way. She went back to yelling at Luffy, calling him an idiot. Before any real argument could take place, the villagers were after us.

Luffy was holding Zoro with one of the swordsman's arms over his shoulder, essentially dragging him while also holding a bag of Nami's treasure. Nami was clutching to the other bag. I think Zoro might have fallen back asleep.

Nami took the time to complain to Luffy. "Why do you have to make these things so hard?"

Luffy ignored her question, instead commenting, "These are good people! They're all upset because of their mayor."

I nodded. "I don't think they would've listened to our side of the story anyway."

We turned down an alleyway only to have to jump over Chouchou, who then prevented the townspeople from coming any further which surprised me. They probably could've just gone around him, but they didn't.

Thanks to our doggy friend, we made it back to the docks without any further incident. Luffy, Zoro, and Nami approached first, while I took up the rear.

There was a bigger boat docked next to ours. It was big enough to fit a small cabin. "Hey, is that your ship?" Luffy asked Nami. "It's awesome!"

"It's not that great." Nami said. "I stole it from some stupid pirates."

I couldn't help the smirk that crossed my face. That sounded familiar.

Sure enough, the pirates that had brought Zoro and I here were standing in Nami's—rightfully theirs—boat.

Nami looked shocked to see them, but I was more annoyed, so that's why, when they tried to approach my crew mates, they were met with me. It probably wasn't the best thing for me to do—using the Nothing to scare the shit out of them, especially considering I almost passed out not even an hour ago—but I didn't care. I just wanted to leave.

"And here I had hoped you guys would be gone by now. Am I going to have to kick your asses again? I'm really not in the mood for your shit right now." The looks on their faces were extremely amusing. They froze, meeting my glare, before taking off running when I reached behind my back for my weapon. Behind me, Luffy started laughing. "Okay! Let's go!"

It wasn't long before we were able to start sailing. Before we could get too far, the mayor came running to the docks. "Wait! I've got something to say to you!"

"The mayor?" I asked, looking over from my spot on our boat.

From where we were, I could see tears streaming down his cheeks, but he gave us a huge smile. "Thank you! I'll never forget this!"

Zoro lay on one side of our ship and I sat near the front. Luffy was standing talking to, er, arguing with, Nami—who didn't want any of us near her boat. That was fine by me. She didn't give me a very good first impression anyways. Something seemed off about her. I figured she was hiding something from us, at least, that's what my instincts were telling me, and they were never wrong.

Apparently Luffy'd left a bag of treasure on the docks for the townspeople to use in rebuilding their homes. I was content to leave them be until the boat lurched dangerously. Nami was trying her damnedest to push Luffy overboard and he had a death grip on the side of the boat. Zoro was laughing. And all of it was making my headache worse.

Luckily, before I had to intervene, the two stopped wrestling and settled down. I let out a long sigh and leaned back, staring at the sky. Things were so pretty here. Nothing like back home. On Agnostos, I would always get up early to look at the sunrise, and sit with Serah and Kiba watching the sunset while we waited for Cherise to finish with work.

I don't know how long I sat like that, but it was long enough for my headache to dull a bit more. After a while I heard Nami offer to patch up Luffy's hat which, to me, seemed uncharacteristically nice of her. Then, Luffy came and plopped down in front of me. "Whatcha doing, Ren?"

I hummed before sitting up straight to look at him. Zoro and Nami both also seemed curious. If their glances were anything to go by. "Just looking at the sky."

"What? That's boring!"

I let out a little laugh. Glancing up once more "To you maybe. The sky here is much prettier."

"Than your home?"

I gave a small smile, nodding. "Yeah. I didn't get to see the sky that often back then, and when I did, it was always filled with clouds of black smoke."

"That must have been horrible." Nami commented, looking up from her sewing.

I smirked at her. "In more ways than one." I hoped my tone was enough to imply that I didn't want to talk any more about it.

Luckily for me, Zoro got the message and changed the subject before Luffy could ask anything else. "That reminds me, what's with that little disappearing act you do?"

I sighed quietly when Luffy turned away from me to grin at him, exclaiming, "It's not disappearing, it's teleporting!"

Seeing the confused faces of our newer crew mates, I decided to explain. "Sometime ago, almost ten year ago, I acquired an ability—I have no idea how I got it." Okay that last bit was a lie, but I couldn't tell them that a _deity_ liked fucking with my life. "It was a huge fucking nuisance for years. I couldn't control it so I would just pop in and out of place at random. One minute, I'm sitting in my room, the next there's literal Nothing in front of my eyes. It was really stupid. Then, one day about two years ago, a woman came to me and said she could help me learn to control it. So, I no longer disappear against my will and just recently I discovered I can in fact decide where I want to come back to. But I'm just figuring it out, which is why I kinda collapsed earlier, and why I still have a headache."

It was obvious enough now that there was more for me to do with the Darkness. But I didn't want to rely on the teleporting to other places just yet. Not until I know the toll it takes on my body. When I first started learning to control my little power, it exhausted me. I figured this would be the same, but I wouldn't know for sure until I could test it when I haven't gone without a full night's sleep for a couple days.

"So," Zoro said, interrupting my train of thought, "In a way, you're just like those things you want to learn about."

I...never thought of it like that. I laughed lightly, rubbing the back of my neck. "I guess you could say that."

The rest of the day passed similarly. Friendly conversation surrounded me and eventually my headache vanished. At least I didn't have to listen to Luffy and Zoro complain about empty stomachs. Nami seemed to have food on her boat, luckily. Let's see how long that would last.

I had taken some time to finish writing about our friendly neighborhood Ningen, including a base sketch with a human by it for scale. Of course, I couldn't accurately draw it, because I would've had to be high enough in the air to see it in its entirety, but I did my best.

* * *

By the time night came we'd made good headway. Well, that's what I assumed. I'm good on land, but I'd never even seen a map/chart of the ocean. Nami had taken control of our navigating, which I figured was a good idea. I did NOT want to end up in another whirlpool.

Things calmed down as the others eventually fell asleep. The others seemed to not care about having someone keep watch, but of course, I am very paranoid. Not to mention, Nami's boat _did_ have a pirate's jolly roger. _'Better safe than sorry or something like that.'_

A small part of me hoped the Ningen would make another appearance if just to keep me company for a moment. But I doubted it. It had been heading in the opposite direction of us.

I watched the stars for what was probably hours. I don't think I dozed off once, I just kind of zoned out. Before I knew it, the sun was rising.

I leaned against the side of the boat, looking over the edge at the water below when I heard someone's breathing hitch and the sound of shuffling. I looked over to see Zoro yawning, surprised that he was the first one awake. But, he didn't seem surprised to see me up.

"Did you stay up all night again?" _'Wait what?'_ He knew? I wasn't really trying to keep it a secret but I hadn't outright said anything about it.

He rolled his eyes at my surprised expression, not moving from where he sat and crossing his arms over his chest. "It's pretty obvious."

"Is it as obvious as your lack of directional skills?" At my question, he scowled. I just grinned in response.

" _Excuse me_ for being paranoid about sailing with a boat that has a _pirate's_ jolly roger." He seemed to think my words over before kicking my leg with his foot.

"Fine, but I'm awake now, so sleep." I made to say something in response but got cut off when my body started working against me. I could feel him smirking at me while I yawned.

I didn't even look at him as I said, "Oh, shut up." I propped my arms up against the side of the boat, leaning my forehead against them. I don't remember much after that.


	8. Chapter 7: Brave Captain Usopp?

**_Eyyyy. How's it going? I hope everyone had a good holiday break and is getting back to school/work safely. I myself just started some classes after having to take the semester off, so that's pretty exciting. That being said, I actually have a bit more free time, which is rather ironic. We are getting close to the end of the preparation for the Grand Line and I have several cool ideas I want to put into affect in the future, so that's something I'm looking forward to.  
_**

 ** _Oh and_** ** _StorytellerD132: That's actually the look I was going for with Ren. I didn't even notice that it's similar to Gretel's outfit in the movie._**

 ** _Thank you so much for your kind reviews. I hope you enjoy this chapter!_**

* * *

Zoro watched his slightly enigmatic crew mate lean against the side of their boat. He heard her breathing even out almost instantly, making him roll his eyes again. If she was that tired, she should have said something. And why'd she pick such a weird position to sleep in anyway? Ren sat near his feet with her knees brought up to her chest, her torso turning slightly so her arms were propped up on the side of the boat, her head resting on them.

Zoro studied her for a moment longer before shaking his head and looking out on the ocean. What a strange woman. Luffy sure knew how to pick them. A former pirate hunter, a woman who was as much a mystery as the things she wanted to learn about, and a woman who absolutely despised pirates all sailing under their dorky, strawhatted captain. What a motley crew they seemed.

Though, Zoro wasn't thinking about the crew so much as he wondered about the woman asleep on the other side of the boat. She obviously didn't like talking about her past and he wasn't anyone to begrudge her, considering she hadn't even tried to pry about _his_ past.

Even so, he was still curious, as is natural when meeting someone as _colorful_ as she is. Not to mention what he heard in that old mayor's house. He wanted to protest being called a kid, but she probably would've tried harder to see his wounds and he really just wanted to do nothing but sleep. He hadn't even noticed the uncomfortable silence in the room until he heard her breathing hitch and an almost desperate whisper. "Rhea." He'd almost foregone his fake-sleeping to see what had her so conflicted. Before he even tried, however, there was a loud crashing outside, followed by the sound of her sighing in- Was that relief? A few moments later, she rushed out of the building, possibly coming to the same conclusion that he did: their captain was causing trouble. Zoro was brought from his thoughts by the sound of his captain waking up. Luffy was always so loud.

Luffy grinned at the swordsman. "Hey Zoro! You got up before I did?!" He didn't bother waiting for an answer as he stretched his arm over his head, looking around. He paused, noticing Ren. "Oh! Did she finally go to sleep?" He grinned.

"Yeah, not that long ago."

"That's good. I don't think she's slept since we left her island. It's about time!"

Zoro arched an eyebrow. "And how long ago did you leave her island?"

Luffy put on his best thinking face and was quiet for a few moments. After a minute he shrugged. "A few days maybe? It was the day before I met Coby." He thought for another moment before nodding to himself. "But we did leave reeaaaaalllly early that morning."

His somewhat serious expression changed when he noticed Nami coming out of the cabin on her boat. "Nami! I want food!"

* * *

While I slept, I dreamed. Er, well, it was more like a memory than a dream, only I was viewing it from a different perspective rather than living it.

I was in an extremely familiar living room. There was a fire in the fireplace, lighting the room with a warm glow. Several stacks of books lined one of the walls. If one looked closely, all the titles would say something about myths or urban legends from different cultures. Against another wall was a couch, with a handmade quilt draped over the back. The remaining walls were covered in pictures and paintings.

In the corner near the fireplace sat a large arm chair with a small table next to it. A bundle of blankets took up the seat as if whoever had been previously sitting there absentmindedly dropped them before leaving the room. _'Knowing her, that's probably what happened.'_

In front of the chair, several pieces of paper lay scattered surrounded by crayons and pencils. The papers were noticeably in two different "piles" though the crayons and pencils were gathered together in one spot between the papers.

I couldn't help the small smile that spread across my face at the pictures on the topmost papers. One showed what seemed to be the very room I was in, albeit with random colors and very childlike in nature. The other showed a field of flowers, in the middle stood three stick figures holding hands and smiling. The tallest one was labeled "Nana" and had a wild mass of grey hair around its head. On either side of it were two smaller figures labeled "Me" and "Ren." The two smaller ones looked almost identical except for the hairstyles. "Me" had what I assumed was long brown hair pulled into a ponytail and "Ren" had much shorter black hair. They were all smiling. I let out a small chuckle at that. She never was good at drawing people. But her imagination more than made up for it.

My thoughts were interrupted when the door opened behind me. I felt like I had been punched in the gut. My breath rushed out in a huff. An older woman walked through the door carrying a tray holding three steaming mugs. She was followed by two children. The three made their way to the chair in the corner. They were talking about...something. I couldn't make myself pay attention, instead I studied all of them.

The two children, both girls, sat crisscrossed on the floor in front of their pictures. The taller—and elder—of the two sat in front of the picture of the room. Her black hair was cut short into a bob just above her shoulders. Her grey-blue eyes shone excitedly as she actively participated in the conversation.

The shorter girl—sitting in front of the flower field picture—looked so much like her sister that they could be mistaken for twins and, in fact, they often were. Though, if someone looked closer the differences were easily noticeable. She had a full head of dark brown hair, pulled back into a french-braid at the moment, her blue-green eyes wide as she listened to the conversation, speaking every so often, but mostly sipping hot chocolate from her mug.

Finally, the woman had a mess of greying hair pulled back into a messy bun and kind, blue eyes, the corners of which would crinkle when she smiled at the children. She looked so happy. They all did. I wish it would've stayed that way. I had to stop myself from delving into the would've's and should've's. I'd done too much of that already. Instead I watched them interact, eventually moving to sit on the ground against the wall several feet away from the chair. Part of me was tempted to lean my head back against the wall and listen to them, but I knew I couldn't do that. I wouldn't have been able to peel my eyes away from the scene.

Any thoughts of mine were halted when the woman finished her drink, calling the girls' attentions to her. Her voice had a bit of a serious note to it, demanding attention. "I have something to tell you girls." She glanced at both the girls individually and, for a second, I could've sworn she met my gaze.

"It's a bit of a history lesson, something about our family." She smiled when she noticed that she had undivided attention. "Though, by the time this information is needed, you'll have forgotten it." I barely caught the bit she added under her breath.

She reached down into a bag I hadn't noticed before and pulled out a book. The cover was bare save a strange icon on the binding and front. The symbol had Borromean rings—three interlocking circles—but spiraling and twisting lines sprouted from the individual rings and faded away as they got farther from the center of the image. I couldn't help but gape at the sight, reaching in my shirt to pull out the necklace Ava gave me. On the pendant, seemingly embedded in the main gemstone, was the same symbol.

My staring was cut short when the woman spoke again. "Our family is rather special, you know? Long ago, back in the time of my great-great-great grandmother, the members of our family held near and dear stories and legends. Talk of deities and their work, impossible creatures, and their stories have been apart of our family since the beginning."

Her smile turned slightly sad. "Though, now, I'm the only one who knows the stories. Your mother wanted nothing to do with it."

The older of the two girls—tiny me—bounced in her spot. "Are you gonna tell us?"

The woman smiled. "If you would like I can tell you a bit today."

At mini-me's excited nod she let out a small laugh. "Normally I would wait until you're older, but I fear that I won't be able to later," She said under her breath again shooting a look in my direction.

Before she could start with a story, the younger girl stuck her hand in the air. "Nana, what's a dee-tee?" Mini-me nodded, wondering as well.

Nana smiled, pausing a minute to think. "A deity is like a god. They are very powerful and often control some thing in nature. For instance there is Enra, the deity of love and passion. Her husband Cyrus deals with fate. Ava is another one. With her brother Vahn, she deals with death. Ava leads people to the afterlife or, if they believe in it, to be reborn. Vahn deals with everything else, knowing who is going to die and how they die, and, sometimes he has to make sure that they don't die before it is their time to."

My mind was reeling. Questions floating around, mixing together to confuse me further. Before it could progress too far though, I was interrupted. "So, they're all good guys?" One of the girls asked.

Nana's face gained an expression I don't remember ever seeing. It was somber, almost grim. Her mouth formed a tight line and she took a few deep breaths, seeming to be trying to gather her thoughts. There was a strange silence for a few moments before she finally spoke, her voice low as if she was afraid someone else would hear.

"No, not all of them are. There is one—and I dare not say his name for fear of calling him to us—who isn't good. He is wicked in every sense of the word. He is someone I pray you never have to deal with." She took a breath and murmured quietly, as if for only me to hear. "It seems my prayers may be in vain." I saw sadness in her eyes as she glanced _at me_ this time. At me, as in she looked me in the eyes.

I slowly stood, completely at a loss for words. I had to remind myself to breathe. She had the book open to a certain page. In beautiful handwriting at the top of the page was one word—or rather, a name. Echer.

When I looked back at her, she was conversing again with the girls, seemingly in a happier mood. I couldn't hear anything they were saying and I stumbled as the world around me fell to blackness.

* * *

I jolted where I was sitting, jumping away from the edge of our boat slightly. I must have startled my crew mates because they were all staring at me. "What? You guys never seen someone wake up from a really weird dream?"

When they kept staring, I shot them a dry look. "Take a fucking picture, it'll last longer." I ran my hand through my hair, surprised to find no knots or tangles in it, before sitting up straight and stretching my arms over my head, relishing in the satisfying pops from my back and left shoulder.

Zoro snorted at my comment, going back to relaxing, while Luffy grinned at me. "Hey Ren! You finally woke up!"

I rose an eyebrow, looking up at the sky. It only seemed to be around noon. I'd probably been asleep for five or six hours. Shrugging, I turned back to the others. "What did I miss?"

"We went to a treasure island! We met a guy stuck in a treasure chest!"

I had to look to Nami for confirmation. She nodded and went on to explain that while I was sleeping, Luffy saw an island and decided it was worth exploring, ignoring Nami's comments that it was uninhabited. When they got there they saw a bunch of strange animals. She described them to me and from what I could gather, there were a bunch of animal hybrids, which, while interesting, wasn't really anything noteworthy for my journal.

The weird animals were led by a man who was indeed stuck in a treasure chest who had been left there 20 or so years ago by his crew on accident. The man had been guarding a handful of treasure chests on a ledge that he couldn't reach. Luffy, being the helpful person that he is, offered to bring the chests down for the guy, but they ended up being empty. So the guy decided to stay on the island with the real treasure: the friends he made along the way (i.e. the animals).

"To be honest, that sounds like a huge fucking mess and I'm glad I slept through it." Zoro nodded from his spot agreeing with me.

Before I could bring anything else up, Nami was standing on her boat near me. "Ren, you seem like a somewhat sensible woman." Ignoring the "somewhat" I nodded. "So, it should be obvious to you that we are really underprepared for the Grand Line, right?"

I sat up, smirking a bit. She must have brought this up with the guys and they probably gave her completely bogus answers. "Well, yeah. This one notebook isn't gonna last me forever."

The answer obviously wasn't what she was looking for and I swear I saw smoke coming from her ears, while Luffy laughed.

I let out a little laugh and spoke again. "Calm down, Ginger. It was a joke." She took a breath and looked at me again. "I mean, how the hell are we supposed to get into the Grand Line in two small ass dinghies? Plus, it's basically suicide to go sailing without a cook who knows what the fuck they're doing."

I saw a look of relief flash over her face. "Okay. At least _one_ of you is sensible, if not aggravating." I shot her a cheeky grin.

"Then Nami, O great navigator, what do you suggest we do?"

She rolled her eyes at me and then pulled out a map, sitting down. "We have to prepare first, and plan for the journeys ahead. There's a village due north. We should go there first. First thing we do when we get there is look for a better ship."

At that point Luffy decided his input was needed. "And eat some meat!"

With that, we set our course due north, and by we I mean Nami and I because the guys have no sense of direction. It's pretty fucking ridiculous.

We got there eventually and when we did Luffy expressed his amazement at ending up exactly where we wanted to go. "Wow so there actually is a mainland here."

Nami still seemed surprised at how directionally challenged he was. "Of course there is. We just had to follow the map."

Luffy let out a thoughtful "hmmm" at that before asking, "So there's a town nearby?"

Nami nodded. "Yup. Its little, though."

Luffy then decides to go on one of his meat tirades, probably annoying the hell out of Nami. Feeling eyes on me, I decided to ignore it in favor of looking around. Zoro was stretching beside me. I saw him take notice of some bushes that had been rustling since we arrived.

"I really don't like being spied on," I breathed, just loud enough for him to hear. He hummed, glancing at me out of the corner of his eye. I slowly moved my hand behind me, reaching for my weapon and noticed him put a hand on the hilt of one of his katanas.

"Careful," He called back to Luffy and Nami, stopping whatever argument they were having. "We're being watched."

Luffy, being Luffy, of course started glancing around, wondering aloud if whoever it was had meat. Zoro barely had time to turn around and shout a warning before someone started shooting at the ground around Luffy's feet. Normally I would've laughed at the little dance he was doing, but I was more pissed off at whoever was doing it. Nami yelped and ran to take cover by one of our boats, when little flags started popping up from bushes along the cliffs. They each had a rather dorky, if not somewhat generic-looking jolly roger.

"Whoa! That's so cool!" Luffy yelled, jumping around.

I almost turned around to tell him to knock it off, when a laugh sounded from near one of the flags. There stood a boy, probably around Luffy's age wearing brown overalls with a white sash and sported an olive green, plaid bandanna over dark curly hair. He had a rather long nose, bringing to mind stories of Pinocchio. On his left arm he wore a blue and white striped arm band. He stood with his arms crossed.

"I am Usopp, leader of the invincible nation of pirates who reign over this island. You stand before a living legend, the most revered pirate ever lived. I am the great captain Usopp!"

I couldn't help but face palm at that, hoping he would stop there. But he didn't. "Surely you know that plotting an attack on this island would mean certain death! My army of eighty million super mean pirate soldiers would squash you like bugs!"

Luffy was hanging on his every word. Nami and Zoro looked less than impressed. And me? I was bent over laughing. "Are. You. Fucking. Serious? That's one of the worst lies I've ever heard."

"Do you honestly expect us to believe that?" Nami ignored my laughing.

Usopp froze. "Ah! They know!"

I stood up straight, taking a few deep breaths, and I couldn't help a few giggles that slipped out. Nami smirked. "Well now we know."

Usopp was holding his head in his hands, doing a weird wiggle. "How could I be so dumb? I practically told her I was lying. I'm such an idiot!"

He recovered soon enough, though. "Curse you, you crafty tactician! Eighty million might have been an exaggeration, but I have a great many men under my control!" Off to the side, six flags started waving back and forth.

Forever wanting to one-up people, Nami kept the smirk on her face. "My guess is three." At that, the six flags were dropped and three children stood up screaming, "Ah! She does know!" Then they took off in a random direction, deserting their "captain."

I chose to ignore Usopp's yelling in favor of turning to Luffy. "Did you really believe that stupid fucking lie?"

He just nodded, grinning. "How did you know he was lying, Ren?"

I pinched the bridge of my nose between my thumb and finger, sighing. Deciding to save me from the stupidity, Nami leaned down and picked up one of the objects that was shot at Luffy earlier. "A pirate using a slingshot, huh? Well now I've seen it all." Before I could inform her that she had not, in fact, seen it all, Luffy started laughing. "That's pretty cool!"

Of course, this made Usopp upset and he pulled out his slingshot, aiming one of his pachinko balls straight at Luffy. "Shut your mouth! Or I'll shut it for you. I'm a proud man and I won't stand for it. This is your last warning or you'll get to see why they call me Proud Usopp and not Pushover Usopp. Is that clear?"

"Ooooohhhh. A direct threat to our captain. Dude's got some balls." And what a perfect time to test out the teleporting thing. "Or maybe he's just really stupid." Luffy hid his smile at my comment by tilting his head forward so the brim of his straw hat covered the majority of his face.

"You've already seen how good I can be with this thing, so you know I can rival anyone carrying a pistol!"

I chose that point to disappear. When I reappeared behind him, Luffy was talking, sporting a dangerous smirk on his face. "Now that you've drawn your pistol are you willing to use it."

That made Usopp freeze but Luffy continued. "Guns aren't for threats, they're for actions. Are you willing to risk your life?"

I heard Zoro let out a small chuckle, looking away from Luffy to glance at Usopp. "I can assure you, we're real pirates. His smirk widened when he shot me a look. I returned the smirk with one of my own, reaching behind me to grab my weapon with one hand while moving to throw the other arm over Usopp's shoulder.

He jumped and froze, slowly turning his head to look at me. "You should think really fucking hard about what your next move is gonna be." He was silent, glancing between me and my crew mates, jumping slightly again when I pressed the switch on my weapon, releasing the blades. It was probably overkill on my part, but it was so damn funny. The boy was shaking in his boots.

Eventually, Usopp dropped the ball and his slingshot shot forward uselessly before he sank to his knees. I think I saw tears in his eyes. "Real pirates definitely have a lot more punch behind their words 'cause they can actually back 'em up. That's so cool."

That was enough to renew my laughter, and Luffy and Zoro joined me, shocking Usopp. A moment later, Luffy spoke. "I stole that!" At Usopp's confused look he explained, "I stole those words from Red-Haired Shanks, a pirate I know."

"Huh? You know Red-Haired Shanks? You really are a real pirate! Wait, you gotta be lying. Do you really know him?"

Luffy grinned. "Yep! I know your dad too! His name's Yasopp right?"

Usopp, in his excitement leaned too far forward and ended up falling off the ledge we were on and landed on his back on the ground below.

When Zoro shot me a look I threw my hands up in mock surrender. "It wasn't me." He just rolled his eyes and looked back a Usopp.

Usopp propped himself up on his elbows to look at Luffy. "Yeah, my old man's name is Yasopp. But how...?" He sat up properly. "How in the world do you know him?"

* * *

Not long later, we were a sitting around a table, enjoying a pretty good meal. Luffy was telling Usopp about his dad who, as it turns out, is a part of Red-Haired Shanks' crew. Usopp seemed pretty excited that his dad was a pirate.

I had stopped eating at this point and propped my head up on my hand with my elbow resting on the table. While not-quite listening to them talk, I absentmindedly pulled my necklace out of the collar of my shirt. I ran my thumb over the gemstone, eyeing the symbol. That fucking symbol. The next time I was alone, Ava and I were going to have a long chat.

I don't like being left in the dark about things, _especially_ when it has something to do with me. Ava had some explaining to do. Also what the fuck was up with that book that Nana held? When she died, she left everything to us, so why have I never seen it? Or that symbol?

 _'Speaking of symbol._ ' The symbol on my necklace shone almost metallic, catching the light slightly. I thought back to when Ava gave me this necklace. _'Protection.'_ It was almost like a scoff in my head. _'Protection from what? Or who? Echer? Who the fuck even is he?'_ The name seemed familiar in an eerie sort of way. Just thinking it sent a chill down my spine. It put me on edge. Why was Nana so scared of him?

I was pulled out of my thoughts by someone calling my name. I looked away from my necklace to glance at Nami. "Hm?"

She sighed, looking slightly annoyed. "Come on, we're going to that mansion on the hill to see if the owner will give us a ship."

"Oh, okay." I ignored the strange looks from my crew mates and the little kids that had showed up at some point. They were the same ones that ran away from us earlier. Usopp had also mysteriously vanished at some point. I must've really spaced out. I stood up, tucking my necklace back in my shirt and followed the others outside.

We made our way to the mansion Luffy and the kids chatting idly the entire way. Nami lagged behind, walking along side me. Zoro was a few steps ahead of us. "So, what was that about back there?" Nami spoke up, looking at me I saw Zoro tilt his head a bit, showing that he was listening as well.

I rose an eyebrow. "What?"

"You were glaring at your necklace. You didn't even notice when Luffy stole the rest of the food off of your plate. We called your name several times before you answered."

"Oh?" My eyes widened slightly before I smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of my neck. "Sorry. I guess I just got lost in my thoughts. You know how it is when you're reminiscing to yourself." She seemed to accept my answer and walked ahead of us to catch up with Luffy, while I caught up with Zoro, who seemed to be studying me, but he said nothing.

Eventually we made it to the mansion. The children explained to how "honorable" Usopp was for lying to Kaya, the girl who owned the mansion. He told her stories to make her feel better. She'd been sick since her parents died. Luffy decided we were definitely going to ask her for a ship, despite our protests.

"Usopp's the one that makes her feel better, not us." Zoro commented.

Kiddos proceeded to explain that the mansion was heavily guarded. I was more entertained watching Luffy climb the fence. When the others started wondering where he went, I just pointed.

"I'll go ask her." He said before leaning back, stretching his arms.

"No! You're not gonna-" Zoro was cut off when Luffy started, "Gum gum..."

I was content to watch as the others tried to stop him. They all ended up getting launched over the fence. I imagine, knowing their luck, they went exactly where they needed to be. "You guys really should know better. It's not like you can stop him when he's in one of these moods." I sighed making my way towards where I thought the gate was, before stopping and looking around.

There's no one nearby. "Ava. Get your ass down here or so help me I'm coming to you." There was the feeling of electricity in the air and suddenly she was in front of me. She had a solemn look on her face.

"You know why I called for you." It wasn't a question. And she nodded. "I can't stay that long, however. My brother is running rampant elsewhere and I'm trying to help track him down."

Before I could open my mouth to protest, she continued, "Yes. What you saw was real. And I know, it might make you angry, but I promised her that I wouldn't give you all the answers. She wanted you to work things out for yourself.

"Her? Who is she?" Ava smiled in answer before continuing.

"The necklace _is_ for protection. Because you aren't strong enough. And He can not know where you are. Neither of them can. Not yet."

"Yet? Ava, what the fuck is going on?"

"You know how much I hate not telling you things. You are my dear friend. But I must keep my promise. That name. The one that feels like poison on your tongue and that causes anger in your being. Never speak it. Please."

My hands were clenched into fists. "He will come if I do? The one Nana warned us about. The one that you don't want to find me, along with your brother." She nodded. "What is he, Ava?"

"He is exactly what your grandmother told you. He is the embodiment of malice. All things evil have cause in him. That is all I can tell you."

Before she could leave, I brought up another question. "What about the book, Ava? Where is it? Surely Nana would've left it for us. So why have I never seen it?"

She gave me one of her patented Cryptic Ava smiles. "That book is where everything you have ever needed is. It lies with all that you can be and all that is at your disposal. When you know the truth of yourself, it will be within arms reach. It is in the one place she knew only you could find." With that she vanished, though her voice echoed in the air around me. "We will talk more soon."

Well, fuck. I threw my arms in the air, letting out an exasperated sigh. "Well fuck, Ava. You left me with more questions than answers." I swear I heard her giggle and rubbed my face. "I trust you on this. But next time we talk, you're telling me who She is."

As I continued walking to my previous destination, I groaned. Now my mind was even more crowded. Ava and her fucking riddles. What the fuck does that even mean? All that I can be? Knowing the truth of myself? What the fuck?


End file.
